


Life isn't perfect, but it can be good

by o0citrusee0o



Series: Young Peter Parker [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Children, Adopted Peter Parker, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Baby Peter Parker, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Kid Peter Parker, Multi, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper Potts Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:00:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22540606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/o0citrusee0o/pseuds/o0citrusee0o
Summary: In this universe Peter Parker finds himself in need of new parental figures as his are now six feet under.Enter the Stark family, interested in expanding their family through adoption.But Peter thinks they're only interested in his little sister Teresa, that he's the buy one-get one deal.Can Tony convince Peter that the boy is as wanted as his sister is?
Relationships: Ben Parker & Peter Parker, Happy Hogan & Peter Parker, Happy Hogan & Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Mary Parker & Peter Parker & Richard Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Teresa Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Teresa Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Young Peter Parker [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1636438
Comments: 170
Kudos: 909
Collections: The Best Irondad/Spiderson Fics, The Best Peter Parker Whump Fics, The Best of the Best MCU Fics





	1. Parkers part 1

Mary Fitzpatrick and Richard Parker met each other much like a romantic comedy movie, seeing their names on the performance sheet and being jealous when the other one out did the other. For months it was a battle between the two to be to the top performer but never actually seeing each other in person. 

The moment they finally meet in person, the pair hit it off perfectly until their last names were shared. 

From there it was another month before the pair finally got their heads on straight and began to date.

Their love life was fit for any romance story, full of sweet moments that outweighed the occasional disagreement. 

It was perfect.

They symbolized this perfection with a wedding. 

A simple but traditional wedding that any person would dream of. 

After the wedding the newly wed pair had simple dreams.

An apartment in their favorite city of New York.

They got it.

Spend time with Richard’s older brother Ben and his wife.

They did it. 

Gain the promotions in their jobs they always wanted.

They achieved it.

And finally, the pair decided to expand their family. It’s the natural next step after all.

They succeeded with ease, Mary getting pregnant in the first month of trying. 

It was all perfect.

Picture perfect. 

But perfection doesn’t last. 

Mary found herself sick and in pain more then the average woman. As weeks went by she found little reprieve from it all, her health starting to affect her work and daily living. Other soon to be mothers in the classes she took spoke on how little joys and comforts made it all worth it. Mary joys were very few and her comfort was never an option. 

With his wife being at his side less and less both at work and at home, Richard struggled to focus. Struggled to accept how ill his child made his wife. Struggled to come to terms with these things. No matter how many professionals Richard spoke to, none offered him answers he needed to help his wife causing a rise in his frustrations. 

By the 27th week of pregnancy neither Mary nor Richard were very surprised that their child decided to enter the world painfully early. 

Peter Benjamin Parker found himself a resident of the NICU within moments of his birth due to weak lungs. 

But his parents loved him.

Staring into the plastic case holding their tiny baby, Mary and Richard Parker finally felt that parental joy they’ve been hearing about. Even covered with wires and tubes, they saw their little boy as a perfect addition to the family. 

But with Peter’s prognosis, he wasn’t going home any time soon.

Mary and Richard used that time to further prepare the house and catch up on work that they struggled with for so many months. 

By time Peter came home after a two month stay in the hospital, Mary files for her delayed maternity leave, and the pair celebrate.

It is by the end of the first few months with Peter that Mary and Richard come to a startling realization.

Mary and Richard are gifted intellectually. With smarts and skills that surpassed many in the world. But with every high point there must be a low point to balance a person out.

Richard and Mary, their low point was their parenting skills.

Mary and Richard loved Peter. 

They would destroy the world for Peter.

But what usually comes instinctually, naturally for parents…well they struggled with.

Many new parents said struggles were part of the job. People often retelling their struggles of their own with their first born. Mary and Richard accepted this fact even before Peter was born, that there would be struggles.

But the pair continued to struggle. 

Even after all the books and classes said they’d get the hang of things eventually, the pair continued to struggle.

The pair came to rely on Richard’s brother and sister-in-law not just for childcare with Peter while the pair worked, but also as confidants with their struggles. While Ben and May Parker did not have kids, they had the instinct and natural skill at childcare. 

The Parkers often laughed at weekend dinners over how one pair got all the higher intelligence for the group while the other pair has all the instincts and natural skill of the group. 

They never meant it to be mean. Neither couple felt any animosity. They just stated the facts.

And with May and Ben learning they were unable to have children by the time Peter turned one, the pair put their focus on their nephew. The couples coming to share the care of the boy and making sure he grew up loved.

Yes Peter did have occasional difficulties.

Like labeling the right people as mom and dad. 

Or not sharing a new skill with one couple of the two.

But for the most part, the system worked. 

As Peter entered Pre-k May and Ben found themselves with more free time. It is during this free time that the pair realize how much time they have spent raising Peter for Mary and Richard. They love Peter, but they also found joy in working their jobs at more ‘normal’ hours now that their days were no longer filled with childcare.  
And life became perfect again.

But perfection never lasts.

Shortly after joining pre-k it is discovered that Peter needs glasses. His diagnosis of poor eyesight weighed heavily on the Parkers. Peter received extra desserts that day.

A month later Peter would yet again receive extra special desserts after suffering an asthma attack that scared Mary and Richard so bad they didn’t send Peter to school or go to work themselves for three days while attempting to care for him.

Shortly into starting Kindergarten his parents, aunt, and uncle are called to the school due to Peter’s inability to focus in class and causing disruptions. After testing him, Peter is found to have above average intellect like his parents and his struggles in school stemming from boredom. 

That night Richard, Ben, May, and Mary have their first big argument. The discussion of moving Peter up in grades to keep him engaged versus keeping him at grade level to improve his social development. A compromise was reached with Peter staying at grade level with some higher-level lessons being integrated into his schedule along with special advanced academics on the weekends. 

Near the end of kindergarten, Peter’s routine was disrupted with the surprise of Mary’s second pregnancy. 

Unintentionally, Peter listened in on the discussion between all four Parkers about this revelation. Lists of concerns was long, the intelligent boy hearing for the first time how hard things were for Mary and Richard with raising him while Ben and May were helping raise him even though normal aunts and uncles don’t do that.  
Peter filed this information in his mind, his young emotional state making him decide he should be a ‘good boy’ to help the adults. 

This leads to Peter trying to more helpful for his mother, especially with how sick she was when pregnant. Peter tried hard to be good at school and his special classes so that his family didn’t have to worry. Peter worked hard to learn how to take care of himself so his father could rest at night while his mother struggled with pregnancy pains. While his mother slept in the afternoons, Peter took to reading to her bump and talking to it so that his mother could rest. When his father showed up later and later to get Peter from his weekend classes, Peter took that time to talk to the other kids about their siblings and read the books at the library about being a good big brother. When Ben and May took over watching Peter Wednesdays, the little boy practiced with May’s old stuffed animals how to rock them and wrap them in blankets. Every day his mother or father were late to pick him up from school, Peter wrote down titles of the kiddie stories in the classroom, even memorizing some as his pickup time grew later each month. 

Peter didn’t have a big birthday when he turned six that August. But he didn’t mind, he was happy to just have cake with his parents, aunt, uncle, and soon to arrive sister.

By time his baby sister was born, a month early in October, Peter was ready to be the best big brother. 

But like him, Teresa Elizabeth Parker was a featured guest in the NICU at the same hospital as Peter. 

It was okay though.

This gave Peter time to make more gifts for the baby’s walls.

This gave Mary time to resume her life without pain and sickness of pregnancy.

This gave Richard time to enjoy working together with his wife again.

This gave Ben time to adjust parts of the guest bedroom that Peter already occupied to accommodate for when the infant would visit.

This gave May time to adjust her work schedule, knowing deep down that Mary and Richard will once again call on her to help care for the baby. Something she now had mixed feelings about. 

But these feelings disappeared when little Teresa proved to be as sweet as her older brother and just as easy to care for as him. May and Ben couldn’t help smiling every time the baby did when she heard their voices. They couldn’t help taking photos of Peter caring for his little sister and reciting baby milestone information he memorized at the library. 

Sure sometimes Peter saw his mother not hear Teresa wake up from her nap, so Peter would climb into the crib to talk to her, blowing raspberries on her belly or tickling her feet.

Yes sometimes Richard would leave half way through preparing Teresa’s bottle for a phone call. So being the best big brother ever, Peter would pull a chair over and get the bottle himself for Teresa. 

But May never forgot.

At her house Peter got to help with Teresa because he asked to, not because May or Ben forgot. 

By time Peter was into first grade the little boy felt his life was perfect.

He had a mom, a dad, an aunt, an uncle, and a little sister. 

He had a bedroom in two apartments.

He got fun classes on the weekend.

And he finally got his first friend: Ned Leeds.

So he considered his life perfect. 

But perfection never lasts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ___________________________________________________________________________________________________  
> Ages, timelines, and life events have been adjusted and altered for this fic.....this is done because this is a no superhero/superpower AU....certain people need to be certain ages by certain events....and because I'm the creator and I wanted to do it this way


	2. Parkers part 2

According to Mary Parker, Teresa’s first word was ‘Ma’

According to Richard Parker, Teresa’s first word was ‘Bana’ 

According to May and Peter, Teresa’s first word was ‘Pe’ee’

Ben refused to take sides on this matter. 

But it was fact that by Teresa’s first birthday it was obvious her best friend was her brother and Peter adored his little sister. 

It is this love that Peter clings to when his aunt and uncle sit him down one night to tell him his mom and dad were not coming home ever again. They were in heaven.   
Teresa didn’t understand what was happening. Being closely attached to Peter, followed by May and Ben, the toddler stopped asking for her parents after a few weeks.

Peter though. 

Peter would sometimes worry.

He would lay in the crib with Teresa when Ben worked a night shift, hoping his car doesn’t take him to Heaven like the plane took mom and dad. 

Thrusted into the world of full parent mode, Ben and May needed another set of hands to help. They sought out a sitter for the time between Peter finishing school and the adults finishing work.

They found Steven Westcott or also known as Skip.

The teen bonded with Peter quickly which is special since the smart boy struggled socially. He handled Teresa well, causing the toddler to giggle within minutes of meeting her. 

Soon Skip’s time with the kids went from a few hours after school to covering the nights May and Ben wanted to go out on a date to picking Peter up every few Saturdays from his special classes.

It was all going well. 

The Parker’s were finally having a perfectly good life.

But perfection never lasts.

Peter began to withdraw. Talking to very few people. Flinching at loud noises. It was the bed wetting that caused May and Ben to really begin worrying.

Feeling the source being the academic pressures on Peter, the pair withdrew him from his weekend classes. 

But he kept getting worse.

It got to the point Peter only spoke to his sister, his friend Ned, and to the picture of the picture of his favorite inventor: Tony Stark. 

Hoping to draw Peter out of his shell more, Ben took Peter to the heart of Manhattan to see Tony Stark’s reveal of his new tech at a convention. It cost a lot but it was worth it when Peter lit up like a Times Square New Year’s Eve at all the inventions at the event. Ben nearly choked when the billionaire Tony Stark took interest in his nephew who was asking questions at the man’s table that the Stark Industry workers couldn’t answer. 

But one moment between the two caught the man’s attention.

“Mr. Stark,” Peter leaned in close, “didn’t changing your company from weapons to clean energy and technology advancement scare you?”

“Well Peter,” the man moves closer, “it did scare me a bit to change my company’s direction. I did worry we would lose money and if we lost money then people will lose their jobs. So yes I was very worried.”

“How did you stop being scared?”

“Well I told myself that I had to do it. I had to change the company because it was the RIGHT thing to do. The right thing to do is to help people, not hurt them with weapons. Is doing the right thing easy? No. but after I changed the company, well, now I feel better. I feel like an invisible backpack has been taken off my shoulders and I can now stand up straight and enjoy my day. Does this make sense Peter?”

The little boy nods quickly. 

“Good, now I’m sure its time for you to run off and have dinner,” Mr. Stark shakes the little boy’s hand again.

“Thank you Mr. Stark,” Ben murmurs as he too shakes the man’s hand.

“No problem, I love seeing the future faces of science in person. Who knows,” the man winks at Peter, “perhaps I’ll see you around the company in a couple decades.”

With that Ben and Peter left the event, the man noticing his nephew stood taller and appeared happier.

Until they got into the car. 

As the man drove he could see Peter’s mind whirling but before he could say anything his nephew broke the silence.

The words spilling out of the boy’s mouth caused the man to swerve into the nearest parkinglot, asking his nephew to repeat himself. 

Crying and trembling the boy spilt words and dark secrets that Ben could not believe. Comforting the boy with ice cream and a visit to the ER, trying to hide his anger and sadness the best he could until the boy was in bed sleeping with his sister. Only then did Ben tell his wife and as they cried, they called Ben’s police buddies.

Skip was arrested the next day for sexually assault of a minor. 

Teresa was old enough to know her brother was sad and hurt. The little toddler did all she could to cheer him up. It was her little pictures, her hugs, and silly dances she did with Aunt May beside Peter’s bed in the morning that helped bring back the smile Peter was lacking. 

Cashing in the funds they had, May and Ben worked to get Peter a therapist.

The lovely lady managed to crack into Peter in all the right ways, she even let Teresa visit some sessions. 

By time Peter was eight and Teresa was two the family was back on their feet again, with Peter being the Peter he was before the incident. There were still moments or words that made Peter feel bad, but Teresa was always there with a smile and something special to chase those away. 

Life was going back to the perfect it had been before.

But perfection never lasts.

One evening Ben’s coworkers from the precinct came to the door. The two kids saw Aunt May crying. Peter’s seen her cry that hard only once. Peter told Teresa Uncle Ben went to heaven like their parents. It took a little bit but the little girl finally caught on, Uncle Ben wasn’t ever coming home. 

Life got harder.

May worked hard but eventually Peter and Teresa saw letters from the government and May used special cards for food and things the two kids needed. May found corners she could cut to save money, found ways to explain to the kids that making presents for their friends was better than buying them. She showed them that taking the subway wasn’t scary if they did it as a family. 

Teresa could see her brother and aunt feeling down.

So worked to turn those frowns upside down. 

Being silly, telling stories, drawing pictures, Teresa did everything she could. At night she would alternate between cuddling with her aunt and her brother.

By time she was four and Peter ten she rarely slept in her own bed by herself. She let Peter teach her his homework because pre-school was boring. Also all the friends were starting to act differently around her. Peter would comfort her, having felt the same way too. The pair often spent Saturdays at the library to give their aunt a break and to learn new things.

She had her brother.

She had aunt May.

Everything was going to be ok. 

Until May didn’t come and get the pair from the library one Saturday. 

Phone calls went unanswered. 

Tears were shed.

When the workers finally called the police, the men arrived with a lady in a suit. At the time the pair heard words being said but their little minds had broken after the first sentence.

Their aunt was gone now too.

She had gone to heaven with Ben and their parents.

It wasn’t until Peter had calmed down just enough to ask for more information on their aunt that he understood. 

A brain aneurysm. 

She was home alone.

So no one was there to call for help. 

The lady in the suit said the two were going to need to pack a bag because they were going to spend a couple nights at her friend’s house. 

Both kids didn’t like the sounds of that. Something in her voice, the way she looked at them with pity, that set both kids off. 

They were both smart enough to see there were no more adults to take care of them. They both had read books about characters without adults.

Orphans. 

Peter and Teresa both grimly knew that is what they are.

Packing clothes, one favorite toy each, their family photo album, and any other small personal items they could jam into the duffle bags that once belonged to their aunt and uncle, the pair were led to a car and brought to the home of Ms. Warren.

The lady called Ms. Warren their foster mother.

The lady called the other six kids their foster siblings. 

Peter and Teresa knew they were family and probably never will be, but the pair remained polite since that is what Aunt May taught them.

This day Peter came to a conclusion:

Life will never be perfect again.


	3. Starks

Anthony Edward Stark.

Born to a weapons inventor whose wealth and name had a reputation and his wife whose wealth and charity work also led her to have a well-known reputation. Anthony, or Tony, came into the world with the expectations to be the next great man to lead the world. 

These expectations where enforced as he grew through the harsh lessons his father taught with his mother’s hidden kindness that came all to rarely. His saving grace being Edwin Jarvis and his wife, they raised Tony, showed him love and kindness, gave him hope that life will someday get better. 

He clung to their words as his education became rigorous.

He cherished his moments with them each time his father sent him to boarding school after boarding school, only to send the boy to M.I.T at fourteen. 

Far from the two people who loved him, Tony met many people, seeking to fill that void.

James Rhodes became that for the boy. The older teen taking Tony under his wing, becoming close friends.

For the longest time Tony would say Rhodey was his only friend. The people at the parties and the people the teen spent nights with filled the need for attention but it is Rhodey who fills the need for love.

A love Tony needed when each of his family members died at the hands of illnesses and then a car accident. Left without the Jarvis family and his parents, Tony continued a flamboyant life to hide his pain. Only the love of Rhodey keeping Tony sane through it all.

Until Harold Hogan and Pepper Potts. A bodyguard brought at Rhodey’s urgings and a PA brought on by Obadiah’s urging. Neither thought well of Tony at first but some how they saw through his façade, seeing the broken man under it all. 

Tony had three friends although he struggled to admit this verbally to anyone. 

A friendship that extended further into his adulthood and proven to be stronger than anything Tony is kidnapped. Pepper keeps his company on track, Happy works leads in the USA, and Rhodey searching overseas. Together the three worked and the moment Tony appeared wounded but alive in the desert, all three shed little tears. 

It was these three who supported him as he changed his family’s long time weapons company into a company for technology advancement and clean energy. It was three that provided him support emotionally when Tony discovered his godfather Obadiah Stan was the one selling weapons to the enemy and undermining Tony’s efforts to reform the company. 

But his choice was the right choice.

And the right choice yielded results.

Stark Industries rose higher and faster with this new venue then it ever did with weapons. 

But with the rise of fame came more attention. 

Soon a secret agency of the government knocked on Tony’s door requesting for his help. With his inventions both in technology and weapons, his knowledge, and skills Tony was asked to help a group of specialists who work for the government to bring down major criminal organizations threatening the peace.   
With his best friend Rhodey as his bridge between the military personal and himself, Tony helped. 

Taking the moniker of Iron Man and Rhodey taking War Machine they joined the group. Tony spent several years taking down the enemy, some he knew about from his kidnapping and cleaning up his company while some he didn’t know. 

His career ended when the team took down one of the biggest human trafficking rings in the world, a bomb sending Tony into the hospital for a long time. 

With the takedown successful, the team retired so a new group can take their place, caring for wounds they received.

Tony went home.

And found his three best friends waiting for him.

As he recovered he began focusing on his company again. 

And his relationships.

Mostly with Pepper.

Soon the pair married.

Then months later they discovered the joy of adding a child to their relationship.

A child that nearly died with its mother when an old enemy came back and kidnapped Pepper, harming her in the process. 

Their little Morgan Stark survived, a fighter like her mother, but Pepper and Tony found that this little girl will forever be their only child thanks to the damage Pepper suffered at the hands of Tony’s enemy. 

This was fine.

The pair filled their lives with the joys their little girl brought them. Surrounding themselves in the happy moments after all they had gone through. Tony let Pepper take over the company as CEO while he focused on creating and inventing for the company as well as their daughter. He also was placed in charge of the expos and conventions again where Tony adored meeting curious children now that he had one of his own. 

One he liked so much he decided to be the boy’s sponsor since the kid lived in Tennessee with his mom and sister after seeing to boy create a potato gun right there in the expo cafeteria to make some kind of point. 

There was another who Tony remembers. A quiet boy who was able to stump the company employees with his in-depth questions. But it was his question about how to not be scared that was forever etched in Tony’s memory. He hopes that someday he’ll see the boy again doing big and great things. 

Tony would say life was perfect, but he knows perfection didn’t exist.

So life was good for him.

Until Morgan entered school.

As the little princess made more friends at school she began to ask about their family. Asking about cousins, asking about possible siblings. 

With a heavy heart her parents told her that they could not give her a sibling from her mommy’s tummy.

The little girl having the smarts of her parents came to a different conclusion.

“Then lets go buy a new brother or sister please, I’m sure there are others out there who need a mommy and a daddy and a sister, we need to find them and buy them. Daddy you know how to find things and mommy you have the money card, lets go buy a brother or sister.”

The pair could only stare at their daughter for a moment in shock before distracting her with a movie and popcorn.

After the girl went to bed the pair sat on their own bed reliving the conversation that just took place with their little girl. 

“Be honest Tony,” Pepper whispers, “lets take all the factors out of the picture for a second and answers me honestly: do you want more kids?”

“No factors?”

“None.”

The man twiddles his thumbs and clears his throat as he shifts his position. 

Pepper’s been with him long enough to know that this a sign that Tony wants to say yes but not hurt someone’s feelings.

That someone being her.

“I always wanted a big family,” Pepper squeezes Tony’s twiddling fingers.

“Really?” the man can only gasp with wide eyes.

“If we adopt it will be harder, the kid will come with a background already. Older ones will need some help relearning and adjusting.”

“How do we go about this?”

With that the pair try to sleep but their minds shift to ideas on how to proceed next. Even after Morgan goes to school the pair search up information on their own, making lists and plans.

Once Morgan goes to bed, the pair sit at the kitchen table with their lists and plans to compare. 

Pepper gathers it all into a single list, a single plan. 

A plan the couple stick to and don’t tell Morgan about.

Not until the day came. 

The dreary first Saturday of December the pair sat Morgan down for an early breakfast.

“So Morgan, today is a special day,” Tony begins.

“Why?”

“Well remember when you asked mommy and daddy to get you a new brother or sister?”

The little girl gasps, “did you get me one?”

“Not yet,” Pepper chuckles, “we had to do some paperwork, classes, and well we had to do lots of stuff to show people that we are a good mommy and daddy.”

“You’re the best mommy and daddy!”

“And now that the people know,” Tony continues, “today we are going to a special event. We’re going to a community center and there will be boys and girls there who are looking for a mommy and daddy.”

“We get to pick one?!”

Pepper sits down and eyes Morgan carefully, “only if someone there fits. You don’t have to pick today, we can even visit a few more then once if we want to see if they fit.”

“How do I know if they fit?”

“That’s a tough question because even we don’t know the answer,” Tony mutters. 

Pepper kicks him under the table before turning her attention to Morgan.

“You know how your heart feels warm when you’re with mommy and daddy? How even when your angry at us for sending you to time out, your heart still is warm and says you love us?”

The little girl nods, “so look for someone who makes my heart warm?”

Pepper nods, “and it might be hard. Some of these kids might be sad or scared or hurt—”

“Because they don’t have a mommy and daddy to help them?”

“Right, so you need to remember even the ones who aren’t smiling might make your heart warm. We’re going to talk to as many kids as we can today. If you get tired or you don’t want to keep going just let us know because we can always go again and again and again.”

The little girl nods, “I’m ready! I’ll listen to my heart and be nice so that maybe I’ll find a new brother or sister.”

Tony and Pepper exchanged a nervous look. Neither knew quite how to explain the process of picking someone to adopt over another, they only hope they explained in a way that won’t come back to bite them later. 

Morgan alone is talking excitedly in the car about what she wants to do with her sibling.

Tony and Pepper sit on either side of her trying to calm their racing hearts, the minds sending pleas and prayers to whichever deity would listen that they make good choices today. Both plaster on their paparazzi smiles as they exit the car outside the community center with the large banner with the child match up event written on it. Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and Long Island are listed as places the kids hail from in the banner’s subtext. 

The Stark family is led to the gym where it opens to reveal dozens of families and children milling about loudly. 

Morgan gets a special bracelet to show she’s someone’s child and once handed pamphlets after signing in the family is left to their own devices to roam about and try to meet some children naturally. Both adults try hard to hide their nervousness and anxiousness behind their smiles.

“Daddy,” Morgan tugs on Tony’s hand, “lets go meet new friends. Maybe one will want to come home with us.”


	4. And it starts

Eleven year old Peter Parker sat on the wooden gym floor, his five year old sister Teresa Parker in his lap, reading a book on circuits. Peter had collected old parts from the local dumpsters and plans to use them to create a new toy for Teresa for Christmas. But first he wanted to learn how to do more complicated circuit work. 

Teresa isn’t as interested in the topic but she knows not to leave Peter’s lap. 

Ms. Warren brought the kids of the foster home to this match event in hopes of finding them potential homes. Peter had heard and even seen at these events siblings being separated through adoption. Teresa is still small and cute enough to draw attention of potential families but he’s an older boy in double digits making him less enticing to adopt. 

His plan is to keep Teresa close enough for people to see they’re a set and hope either they both get new homes or they both go back with Ms. Warren for another six months. 

“Hi.”

The Parker pair look up to see a dark haired girl Teresa’s age standing in front of them. She shifts her weight, shoes shinning in the light and the glitter in her hair bow and top catching the light. Peter’s attention zooms in on the yellow band the girl wears.

She’s someone’s kid.

“My name is Morgan,” the little girl smiles.

“I’m Teresa,” the little girl responds while touching the ribbon Peter put in her brown hair earlier. 

“What’s your name?” Morgan points to Peter.

“This is my brother Peter,” Teresa adds when Peter doesn’t respond.

“Can I sit here? My mommy and daddy are with the babies and I don’t want to play with babies.”

Peter nods and Morgan drops down across from them.

“Everyone goes to the babies first,” Teresa sighs.

“Really?”

Peter leans around Teresa, “yeah. Babies are cute and they aren’t broken.”

“Broken?”

Peter winces, he probably shouldn’t have said that to someone else’s kid. “Well some of us big kids, we have trouble with our attitudes or some of us remember what our old families were like and get sad or some of use had something bad happen to us so we get nightmares—”

“Oh I get nightmares sometimes,” Morgan cuts in, “sometimes they make me cry and yell. My mommy and daddy always come to me when that happens.” 

“You have a nice mommy and daddy,” Teresa smiles.

“Yes I do,” Morgan grins back. “Hey Teresa what is your favorite color?”

The two little girls begin talking back and forth, finding more common ground with each question and statement. Peter finds Morgan to be smarter then average five year olds as she keeps up with Teresa and even Peter when the topic of the book he was reading comes up. Peter doesn’t let go of Teresa until the little girl coughs a little.

“I’m going to go get something for us to drink,” Peter says, worried his sister’s cold might come back. “Don’t move Teresa, even if Morgan has to go home or a nice adult comes over, don’t move.”

“I know Petey,” the little girl waves at her brother. 

As the boy weaves his way to the refreshment table through the crowd Morgan frowns a little.

“Why does your brother want you not to move?”

“Because,” Teresa sighs, “he doesn’t want a family to take me without him. Petey says I’m cute and someone might adopt me without him if he isn’t sitting with me.”

“That’s not nice,” Morgan snaps, “you two have to go together.”

Teresa shrugged, “last time we came to one of these events a little boy was adopted but his older brother wasn’t.”

“Where’s the older brother?” Morgan whispers.

“He still lives at our house. He’s always sad now because his brother is gone. I don’t want Peter being sad without me.”

The two girls sit quietly for a moment as the story sits uneasily in their minds. Teresa decides to change the topic.

“Do you do fun things after school? Like swimming or dancing or something?”

Morgan nods, “yes I go to tumbling class and sometimes my Aunt Nat gives me dance classes when she is in town.”

“Oh that sounds like fun.”

“Morgan H. Stark, we’ve been looking for you,” a deep voice draws their attention. 

Tony and Pepper Stark stand over their daughter and the little brunette they had watched interact with their daughter the last couple minutes. 

“Hi daddy, this is my new friend Teresa,” Morgan waves at the little girl. 

Pepper kneels down to the girls, “hello Teresa.”

Teresa offers a small smile, “hello ma’am.” 

“What have you two been talking about,” Tony asks as he too sits down on the floor beside the girls.

Morgan launches into her story of how she met Teresa and all of the things Teresa likes.

Teresa quickly drops her shyness and begins to rattle off what she knows about Morgan to show she was listening like a good friend. 

Morgan takes the moment that Teresa is explaining to Pepper about how she snuck into Ms. Warren’s room to use the computer to get ideas for Christmas presents, to lean over to her father and whisper to him. 

“My heart is all warm with Teresa daddy.”

Tony sits back and watches Pepper talk to the little girl. Teresa isn’t Morgan but Tony smiles at seeing his wife interact with the little girl just as lovingly. 

“Teresa, Morgan, I brought juice and some cookies. Sorry it took so long, I had to find a plate,” a young male voice draws everyone’s attention. 

Peter hadn’t quite noticed the adults sitting with his sister when he walked up since he was focused on not dropping the drinks. But upon arriving back at the spot he found two adults looking at Teresa lovingly.

They had that look the other parents had before they took kids away to be adopted.

Peter felt panic rising up in his throat.

As he finally sees their faces, he nearly screams.

Mr. Stark and his wife Pepper were the ones talking to his sister. 

His hero.

The man who helped him as a kid.

Tony Stark.

But that same man is looking at Teresa. He’s talking to her. He’s being nice to her. 

No, Peter won’t let it happen even if it is Tony Stark.

Carefully he sets the plate down between his sister and the adults.

“Hey Teresa, we should go check in with Ms. Warren, its been awhile since we spoke to her,” Peter tugs the little girl to her feet while watching the adults with panic. 

He won’t let them take his sister even if the man is his hero.

“No need Peter, I’m right here.”

Ms. Warren comes to stand beside the boy with a big smile.

“Mr. and Mrs. Stark, I see you’ve found my little friend Teresa.”

“Yes,” Pepper stands up, “Teresa was just entertaining us with some stories. She and Morgan hit it off quite well.”

Peter feels his heart race in his ears, his lungs struggling to take air in. 

“Yes Teresa is a little ray of sunshine, although sometimes she can be a little sneaky. She’s also tested to have higher than average IQ and can potentially skip a grade next school year.”

Peter tightens his hold on Teresa.

Ms. Warren was pointing out all of Teresa’s good points. Peter loves Teresa’s good points. Just not when they might take her away from him. 

“Would you be interested in a playdate or dinner meet up with Teresa to get to know her more?” Ms. Warren slides the offer out to the adults.

Tony stands, sweeping Morgan up in his arms, “yes we are interested in those options.”

“No!” 

The group turns to Peter as he tries backing away.

“Peter,” Ms. Warren says with a cautious voice.

“No,” Peter pants, “no you—you can’t have her. Teresa’s my sister.”

Peter feels his eyes burn with unshed tears, but he continues to stare down the adults.

“Peter,” Ms. Warren snaps, “these kind people just want to meet Teresa again.”

“No! You said that about Sebastian and he got adopted and now Jose lives at our house without his brother forever. Teresa and I are real brother and sister, we are Parkers, we go together or not at all.”

Tony and Pepper regard Peter closely but Ms. Warren is quick and grabs the boys arm.

“This is enough Peter,” she hisses, “these people are interested in Teresa. They can give your sister a good life full of love and stability, something you and I can’t give her. You need to do what’s best for Teresa not what’s best for you, that’s what big brothers do.”

Peter now understands the feeling of heartbreak.

As tears run freely down his face, Peter feels his heart break into pieces. 

He doesn’t want to leave Teresa, to lose her to another family and a new last name that he may never get the chance to meet again. 

But Ms. Warren is right, they can give her what Peter can’t give her.

Big brothers do what’s best.

Slowly Peter lets go of Teresa’s arms, his hands trembling as they come to rest at his sides.

“Good boy Peter,” Ms. Warren smiles and nudges Teresa forward.

“Now Teresa, don’t you want to have snacks with the Starks? We have time to do that and maybe we can talk about a playdate or meal with them for another day.”

Teresa glances between the family, Ms. Warren, and her crying brother who refuses to look at her. 

“Peter brought snacks already,” the little girl points out.

“But that’s not enough for everyone so how about we go over by the table for more. Peter can share these with the other boys,” Ms. Warren tries to nudge Teresa further from her brother.

The little girl doesn’t budge.

Rather she fixes her gaze on the family, “I’ll stay here with Petey.”

Ms. Warren didn’t look happy but before she could say more Pepper cuts her off, “how about Mr. Stark goes and gets a few more drinks and snacks. Then we can all sit here and eat.”

“Like a picnic,” Morgan gasps.

Pepper nods, “yep like a picnic. Peter here picked a really nice spot with all this space, so we should take advantage of that.”

“Peter can go get more snacks,” Ms. Warren offers.

“Its ok,” Tony waves her off, “he can sit and eat with the girls, I’ll be fast.”

Morgan nearly jumps from her father’s arms as he sets her down. Morgan dashes over and sits down by Teresa’s feet, tugging on the other girl to follow. 

Peter sits on Teresa’s other side, reaching out and pushing the plate of food and drinks towards the girls. Both girls dig in and begin talking about animals and robots.

Peter nudges the third cup of juice on the plate towards Pepper, not meeting her gaze while doing so.

“Oh thank you Peter, but Mr. Stark is bringing me something. You should have it since you got it for yourself.”

Peter slowly pulls the cup back, sipping at the fruit punch flavor and finding it less pleasant as he had hoped because of his rolling stomach.

“Ok I’m back,” Tony arrives and plops more food and drinks in the middle of the group.

“Ms. Warren,” Pepper speaks up, “we’ll sit with the kids for a little bit and catch you at the end.”

The woman nods and moves to leave but only after whispering ‘be good’ to Peter. 

“So Peter,” the boy glances up towards the man, “is this your book?”

Peter nods and reaches out for the textbook.

“That’s definitely an older topic, you understand it all?” the man tries again to coax and conversation.

“Yes sir.”

Tony nods and tries again, “so Peter what do you intend to build with that information?”

“Ah, uh, a toy for Teresa for Christmas. We only get one present a year and usually its something we need, not something to play with or have fun with. I want Teresa to have a new toy this year,” Peter responds softly, hoping his sister didn’t hear.

The little girl didn’t.

She was busy talking about ice cream with Pepper.

“Do you know who I am Peter?”

The boy glances up and nods, “you’re Tony Stark. I’ve read a lot about you and your work. I especially like the arc reactor technology for clean energy. Have you started looking into ways to reduce the arc reactor’s size in order to start integrating it into smaller electronics?”

Peter realizes he has started talking to much. He jams a chocolate chip cookie into his mouth nervously.

Tony smiles and glances Peter from top to bottom, “you sound pretty interested in my work alright. I’m looking into options for reducing the arc reactor size.”

“Have you thought about---” Peter pauses and blushes, “sorry I’m talking to much.”

“Naw, go ahead kid and get your science geek on, I’ll keep up,” Tony prompts.

With that Peter launches into all the thoughts he’s had over the years about Tony Stark’s tech. The two get so caught up in their conversation about the idea of nano technology after the arc reactor conversation that they didn’t notice Pepper, Morgan, and Teresa watching quietly while eating cookies. 

It isn’t until the bell rings signaling the end of the event that the conversation of science finally ends.

“Oh sorry Mr. Stark,” Peter gasps, “I took all your time. I’m sorry.”

“Kid stop apologizing. This was fun, I enjoyed our talk,” Tony reaches out and shakes Peter’s hand.

“It was nice meeting you both,” Pepper adds as she stands up with her husband.

Morgan jumps up and grabs both of her parent’s hands, “I hope we can play again someday.” 

With one final goodbye the family leaves the two children and move towards Ms. Warren who eyes them closely.

“Hey daddy,” Morgan loudly whispers.

“Yes Momo?”

“Did you get a warm heart with Peter?”

Looking down the man found his daughter smiling hopefully. 

“I—I think so,” he responds. 

“Good, because I really like him too,” she grins and swings their hands in a rhythm. 

Tony looks up to see his wife smiling at him knowingly.

“Excuse me Ms. Warren,” Pepper smiles at the woman, “I’d like to make a playdate appointment.”


	5. Playdate and lunch

As Peter and Teresa Parker get out of the old car, the boy felt his stomach flip flop so hard he almost gagged. Focusing on breathing and holding tight to his sister’s hand kept him from doing so. 

That and the social worker Ms. Dillon would probably be upset if he gagged loudly. 

Ms. Dillon was nice, better then the last social worker the Parker duo had, she was tasked to keep an eye on this playdate but she went out of her way to braid up Teresa’s hair with cute little bows and add a cute little unicorn pin to Teresa’s pink top.

At least that was what Peter thought until he realized Ms. Dillon was doing it only for Teresa while Peter had to stand and wait. He didn’t want braids or pins but he realized that Teresa was getting special attention since Ms. Dillon was hoping Peter’s sister would get adopted. 

That made his stomach start flip flopping which only got worse when the pair arrived at the destination. 

The pair were dressed in their best clothes, Teresa in a pink top with a blue skirt while wearing her best shoes. Peter wore his best jeans and green polo shirt, he had tried to clean the dirt from his sneakers the night before which did seem to help. Kind of. 

Peter knows this playdate is important for Teresa since she and Morgan have bonded so much, but this was also important for Peter. He had to use this playdate to show he was good enough to be adopted with Teresa. Ms. Warren had said giving Teresa up to a loving family was the right thing, she didn’t say anything about Peter doing whatever it takes to be adopted with his sister. 

It is with this idea in his mind, Peter now stands before the looming steel and glass tower of Stark Industries. The lower floors belonging to the company while the top floors to the Stark family and friends, the young boy holds his sister’s hand tighter in the shadow of the massive structure trying to mentally calm himself. 

“Ok you two,” Ms. Dillon drew the attention of the pair, “lets go, the Starks are waiting for us.” 

The woman leads the children into the building and arriving in a busy lobby. Teresa moves closer to her brother as she stares at the strangers around them. Peter tries to be confident but he can feel his shoulders turning inward as more people stop to stare at the pair.

“Teresa!”

Morgan dashes over and stumbles into the pair, turning the gesture into a hug.

Peter sees Mr. and Mrs. Stark greeting Ms. Dillon with smiles, the adults turning towards the children as Morgan pulls Teresa from Peter’s side.

“Come up and see my home Teresa!” 

The Starks move closer, Mrs. Stark reaching out to pull Teresa into a small hug. Peter’s heart flip flops like his stomach when Teresa returns the hug with a big smile.

“Thanks for letting Petey and me come play today,” pipes up to the adults.

“Well thank you two for being willing to come over,” Mrs. Stark replies sweetly.

“Ready to go upstairs kids?” Mr. Stark rubs his hands together with a smile, “our private elevator is over here.” 

The couple leads the three children and social worker to an elevator off in its own corner away from the secretary desk and security check point. The doors open and Peter is fascinated by the fact there are no buttons on the elevator wall for where its to go.

“Penthouse JARVIS,” Mr. Stark says out loud.

“With pleasure sir,” a British voice fills the small metal box.

Peter split between curiosity towards the voice and wanting to laugh at Ms. Dillon who alone jumped the highest in surprise.

“Who was that Mr. Stark? Security?” Ms. Dillon inquires.

“Oh my personal AI,” the man responds with a smile.

“AI?” the woman frowns.

“Its an artificial intelligence,” Peter speaks up, “kinda like a super smart Siri or Alexa that gets even smarter as it learns.”

“Oh I see,” the woman nods.

“Well its more complicated then that,” Mr. Stark mutters.

Peter leans around the social worker to tug on Mr. Stark’s hand. Cupping his hands around his mouth, Peter whispers to the man, “But I don’t think she’d understand full explanation.”

The woman did not show that she heard the boy but as Mr. Stark chuckles and Mrs. Stark snickers behind her hand, Peter realizes he may not have whispered enough. Tugging on the hem of his good shirt again, Peter focuses on his feet hoping that the comment won’t make Ms. Dillon put him timeout or something when they reach the Stark’s home. 

His thoughts end as the elevator comes to a halt, the gleaming doors opening to reveal a wide but basic entry way with coat and shoe racks mostly full but a few spots remain open amid the colored footwear. Morgan moves past everyone while tugging on Teresa’s hand.

“You can put your shoes next to mine and borrow my extra slippers!” Morgan declares as she pushes a pair of lavender and blue slippers into Teresa’s hands while she grabs a pair of gray and lavender ones. 

Mr. Stark and Mrs. Stark step forward, each grabbing some slippers as well.

“We have guest slippers here as well,” Mrs. Stark offers a plain gray pair to Ms. Dillon and a pair to Peter, “we may have money but we still like to keep the carpets as clean as possible with kids.” 

Peter removes his shoes and puts on the rather large sized slippers, the floppy footwear slapping his feet weirdly as he follows the group further into the home.

The group comes upon a large livingroom with floor to ceiling windows to the left and an open kitchen to the right. A hallway straight ahead and stairs to a floor above the kitchen leave Peter feeling a little curious but he follows his sister and Morgan instead of ask about them. He had to be good, he had to be nice, he has to make the Starks take him as well as Teresa. So he follows the girls, Morgan showing Teresa the pile of toys she has waiting on the floor in front of the sofa. 

As Morgan begins explaining each toy’s origin to Teresa Peter kneels near them, sitting still and watching. 

“Peter would you like to play with my K’nex? I have a whole box full and there maybe some pictures in the bottom of the bin but Teresa says your super smart so you can build anything,” Morgan offers a large red storage bin to the boy.

Peter looks in and finds some pieces of plastic in various shapes for snapping together. 

_Well this beats sitting and staring at the girls_

“You don’t mind sharing?” he asks as he bulls tine bin closer.

“Nope,” she turns away to dictate to Teresa how their game with dolls and action figures would go. 

For a period of time Morgan and Teresa play pretend with different toys, occasionally jumping up and dashing about from time to time. Mr. and Mrs. Stark talk quietly with Ms. Dillon every so often but spend most of the time watching the children play. 

And Peter….

Peter builds. He starts out just connecting pieces at random but the more pieces he connects he begins to see an image in his mind. From there his hands take over and his focus blocks out the adult’s whispers and the girls shrieking and laughing. 

Until a shadow falls on Peter’s structure.

“Well that’s quite a structure Peter,” Mr. Stark kneels and flops onto the floor beside the boy while eyeing the structure. 

Peter eyes the structure for a second before responding, “its an outline of your arc reactor sir.”

“I can see that,” the man points towards the center, “but it’s more then an outline. You’ve got some of the compartments for the mechanisms and ports too. It’s pretty good, especially from memory.”

Peter feels his cheeks warm up as he smiles, “thank you sir.” 

“Other then replicas of Tony’s inventions what else do you like to build?”Mrs. Stark asks from her spot on the sofa. 

“Um, well, I like lego kits. The more pieces the better. I finished a 500 piece set with my friend Ned the other day actually.” 

Mrs. Stark smiles brighter at the boy, “is Ned your best friend?”

“Yes ma’am he is.”

“He’s Peter’s only friend,” Teresa cuts in, “other than me.”

“And that’s all I need to be happy,” Peter grins at his sister. 

“Well know this has been fun but I was wondering you kids want to play Mario Kart with this old man,” Mr. Stark pulls remotes from inside the coffee table. 

“Yes! Daddy that will be so much fun,” Morgan jumps up and grabs a remote. 

Mr. Stark hands out a remote to each kid, Mrs. Stark setting up the very large TV across from the sofa with the game. 

Within minutes the whole penthouse is filled with shrieks, squeals, and yelling. Morgan occasionally jumping in place in front of the coffee table while Teresa sits flopping in different positions on the floor beside her. Mr. Stark sits beside his wife calling out to the kids as while trying not to jerk his body to much into his wife’s space. Peter stands on the other side of the man, leaning against the sofa when he isn’t bobbing from sitting to standing in excitement. 

Peter’s face was hurting from smiling so much but he doesn’t mind, he happily nudges Mr. Stark which causes the man to jerk his remote that then sends his character off the track, Peter’s character passing his in an instant.

“Oh someone is playing dirty,” Mr. Stark nudges the boy in return.

“I’m just taking the necessary advantages sir,” Peter smirks.

“Doesn’t matter,” Teresa squeals, “I’m going to win this one!”

As Teresa’s character passes over the finish line, Morgan’s hot on her tail, Peter and Mr. Stark fight it out for third places for a few more seconds. With one last mystery box, Peter manages to get a shell and bombs the older man while taking third place from him. 

“Well, guess I’ll have to stop going easy on you kids,” Mr. Stark sighs with a smile.

“Uh huh,” Peter smirks, “whatever you say T—Mr.—Sir,” the boy fumbles with the right word and blushes.

Before the man can address the fumble, Mrs. Stark speaks up from the kitchen area, “come eat some lunch racers, I’m sure you all have empty stomachs at this point.”

“You made us lunch?!” Teresa shrieks as she drops the remote, “that’s so nice of you.”

Morgan dashes after the other little girl to the kitchen. Peter doesn’t follow but rather picks up the dropped remotes and places them on the coffee table. The then starts picking up the toys and putting them in their respective bins. Mr. Stark sits watching for a moment before speaking up.

“Leave some out Peter, I want Morgan and Teresa to come and put some away too.”

“Its ok sir,” Peter shrugs.

“Nope,” the man stands and takes Peter by the shoulders, “you just clean up the building toy. In this house we share our responsibilities, that’s what family does.” Before Peter can argue the man calls the girls to come and clean up before eating, both dash back and make quick work of their items. 

Peter and Mr. Stark are last to get to the kitchen, Peter finds the two places left open are at the opposite ends of the kitchen table. Peter takes one end between Teresa and Morgan, watching the two girls talk on about their favorite foods.

Mr. Stark starts to pass plates to the other two adults containing fruit salad and grilled cheese sandwiches. Ms. Dillon helps Teresa spoon out her food while Mrs. Stark helps Morgan. After a couple minutes both plates are placed near Peter and pushing on the bottom rung of the chair to boost himself, he reaches the grilled cheese sandwiches. He’s interested in the strawberry-less fruit salad but he knows its to heavy for him to lift and its to far away to reach without spilling fruit on the table. 

Claiming three pieces of grilled cheese, Peter settles into his seat with the expectation he’s going to be ignored by the others at the table.

He’s wrong.

“Peter,” Mrs. Stark speaks up, “would you like some fruit salad or some lemonade. Or if you don’t like lemonade we have milk or some fruit juice.”

“Oh uh, yes I’d like some fruit salad. I’m ok with some water ma’am,” the boy replies. 

The woman gets up and moves around the table, spooning food onto Peter’s plate and then placing a bowl of tomato soup near him. She then fills his cup with some water which is when Peter notices both little girls already have drinks and are eating diligently. 

“Thank you,” Peter murmurs as Mrs. Stark sits down. 

“Why are there not strawberries in the fruit?” Teresa inquires.

“Because they make my mommy sick,” Morgan answers.

“I’m allergic to strawberries,” Mrs. Stark answers sweetly.

“We don’t have strawberries here often because I don’t want us to forget to clean up something and make Pepper sick,” Mr. Stark adds. 

Both children nod.

“Like how nuts make Peter really sick and breath funny?” Teresa asks.

“Its tree nuts Teresa,” Peter cuts in, “I can eat other nuts though,” he adds while looking at the adults. 

“Are those the only things?” Mrs. Stark asks.

The boy nods, “at least that’s all I know.”

“How about you Teresa? Do you have any allergies?” the woman asks.

“Nope, I’m super duper healthy. Auntie May used to say Peter is such a good brother that he gets sick for both of us.”

Peter feels air rushing noisily in his ears. If Teresa makes him sound like weak, sick boy the adults might not adopt him with Teresa.

“Th-that’s not true,” Peter tries to smile but it’s really hard, “its just tree nuts and-and asthma. I’m not weak, I’m ok.”

“Of course you are Peter,” Mr. Stark replies, “Pepper is allergic to strawberries and I have a bad heart but we are not weak. As long as we make sure you don’t eat tree nuts and make sure you have asthma medicine nearby then everything will be just as fine as it has been.” 

The man wasn’t saying he didn’t like Peter or thought the boy is weak. Peter exhales loudly and relaxes back into his chair with a simple “ok”. 

The meal goes without problems. Teresa and Peter both get chances to answer the Starks questions, Peter finding himself get excited as he talks about his class projects he does with his spare time now that he isn’t in advance classes or have weekend classes. Teresa talks about how the neighbor lady at the foster home was teaching her how to tumble for free until she could go to a class someday. Morgan shares about her school she goes to and how sometimes its easy for her too but some parts are hard, but she doesn’t mind because its all fun in the end. The conversation continues onto favorite things from colors to TV shows to clothes to season, continuing long after everyone is done and only ending when Ms. Dillon’s phone rings signaling the end of the playdate. 

Both kids moaned over their lack of desire to leave, Teresa felt so happy to have adults taking care of her and a new best friend while Peter really liked the fact people were talking to him and not at him like most adults do with him. 

The Starks escort the group to the elevator and down to the bottom floor despite Ms. Dillon saying they didn’t need to. The group stops by the doors to leave the building, Morgan flying forward and hugging Teresa tightly then Peter. Teresa takes the moment that Morgan hangs off Peter to hug both Stark adults. 

“Peter, can I give you a hug too?” Mrs. Stark asks gently. 

The boy nods and the woman wraps him up in a soft but strong hug full of warmth.

Peter feels his eyes burn with the desire to cry as he is reminded how long since he’s had a good solid hug.

“What about me kiddo?” Mr. Stark asks and gestures with his arms. 

Peter nods and this time steps up to the man and they hug. 

This time Peter can’t stop the tears from falling as the man’s strong arms hold him tightly. When Mr. Stark pulls back both he and his wife turn from smiles to concerned looks.

“I-I’m sorry,” Peter whispers as he wipes his eyes quickly. 

“Hey,” Mr. Stark kneels down, “its ok kiddo. We’ll miss you too okay?”

The boy nods and sniffles.

Mrs. Stark rubs her hand through his hair, “we’ll see you soon sweetie, I promise.”

“Really?” Peter sniffs again.

“Really, really,” Mr. Stark smiles. 

As Peter nods he moves back to Ms. Dillon’s side. At this point Teresa is starting to cry as she clings to Morgan.

“Come along you two,” she smiles at the children, “I have to get you home so I can talk to Mr. and Mrs. Stark on the phone, ok?”

The pair bid one last goodbye to the family and return to the car. As they reach the car, Ms. Dillon sighs and stops Peter from getting in with Teresa.

“Peter you shouldn’t have cried. You’re a big boy and you made Teresa cry, you need to be good.”

“Yes ma’am,” the boy looks at his feet while biting his lip. He didn’t cry on purpose, but now he feels guilty.

“Ok well get in and let’s head back to Ms. Warren’s.”

As the car pulls away into traffic, Peter watches the tower move further away and he doesn’t like the sad feeling he was getting from that view.

He turns from the back window when Teresa takes up his hand.

“I want to go back,” she whispers to him, “I liked it there. I think they want to be our new family.”

Peter nods, “yeah they really liked you and you really liked them.”

“They liked you too,” she frowns.

“I hope so,” the boy whispers back, Falling silent when Ms. Dillon glances back at them. 

_I hope so_


	6. New bedrooms

Two weeks after the playdate, Peter and Teresa Parker stand before the massive Stark Tower again. Like last time, the siblings follow Ms. Dillon into the building to find the Starks yet again standing by the reception desk with big smiles. Just as last time Morgan rushes forward to greet Teresa excitedly while Ms. Dillon greets the couple. Peter stands off to the side, shifting his hold on the two duffle bags containing all of his and Teresa’s personal possessions. 

This is because he and Teresa were staying behind after Ms. Dillon leaves. The Starks have decided to adopt both him and his sister. The paperwork isn’t finished yet from what Peter understands. According to Ms. Dillon’s speech the siblings will live with the Starks for what she calls ‘an adjustment period’ which once that is over the Starks can petition to adopt the pair formally. For now the couple is Peter’s and Teresa’s legal guardians. 

Peter didn’t want to admit he thought adults just sign papers and kids can move from place to place, foster family to family, with just that single task. After Ms. Dillon tried explaining things Peter took to the internet and discovered adoption is a rather long and sometimes complicated process. His hopes that the Starks would sign some papers and he’d be guaranteed to be with Teresa forever were dashed.

Now he has to be good until the Starks finally sign the papers to adopt.

However long that takes.

The internet wasn’t to specific on the timeline for that.

Peter will not admit he cried himself to sleep after learning all that information. 

“Peter!”

The boy’s attention snaps to the voice. Mr. Stark approaches with a smile and holds out his arms.

Peter shifts the duffel bags again, “it’s ok sir, I can manage these.”

The man’s smile shifts a little and he lowers his arms some, “how about a hug before I argue about who gets to carry the bags.”

Peter feels his face heat up.

The man wanted to hug him not take the bags.

“Oh uh sure,” the boy fumbles and leans forward.

Mr. Stark bends and wraps the boys’ shoulders in a warm hug.

Peter refused the admit that it felt good.

He didn’t want to get attached until he knows the petition has passed.

“Now,” the man pulls back, “I will argue with you over the bags. How about I carry Teresa’s and you carry yours?”

Peter was reluctant to do this. He’s always taken care of Teresa and her things.

The man must’ve seen his hesitation for he bends down further until he’s eye to eye with the boy.

“Hey, its ok. I know you’ve been taking care of your sister for such a long time, but I promise you that Pepper and I can do that now. We can take care of you kids so that you two can just worry about being kids, ok?”

The man’s words sounded nice to Peter. For as long as he can remember he’s taken care of Teresa. He loves his sister but sometimes he wonders what it would be like to not have to worry about when she was going to eat, if she has clean clothes on, if she needs help with school work, walking her places, tucking her in bed and reading stories. 

But his whole life is Teresa, can he just let someone else take care of her?

“Come on buddy, you can trust me with one bag,” Mr. Stark murmurs, “I know its hard but I promise, I won’t let anything happen to the bag from here to Teresa’s new room.”

Slowly Peter’s grip loosens on the one bag until finally Mr. Stark manages to slip the item free and put it on his own shoulder.

“I’m so proud of you Peter,” he ruffles Peter’s hair, “thank you for trusting me with Teresa’s bag. Are you ready to go see the new bedrooms?”

The man gently nudges Peter forward, he sees Mrs. Stark holding onto Teresa and Morgan as Morgan talks about her bedroom to the other little girl. Ms. Dillon continues to follow quietly behind the group, just watching. 

The group arrives at the familiar home again, but this time instead of staying in the livingroom and kitchen area the Starks lead the group down the far hall under the stairs.

“Upstairs is the office and playroom,” Mrs. Stark points out, “down the hall is our room, the girls’ room, Peter’s room, and a guest room.”

“Usually Uncle Rhodey stays there,” Morgan speaks up, “so its really his room.”

“You have an uncle?” Teresa gasps.

“I have lots of uncles. I have Uncle Rhodey, Uncle Happy, Uncle Bruce, but Clint wants me to call him ‘uncle Clint’ but I like being silly and not doing that,” Morgan giggles.

“Wow, you have a big family,” the other little girl gasps with wide brown eyes.

“We aren’t family-family,” Morgan makes a face as she tries to explain, “they’re like you guys.”

“Adopted?” Teresa supplies

“Yeah something like but for adults. There’s also Steve, Sam, Bucky, and Thor. They say I can call them uncles too but I don’t know,” the little girl shrugs, “I just call them their names like mama. But I only have one Aunt, that’s Aunt Natasha.” 

“That’s still a lot of people,” Teresa grins, “Peter and I had an Aunt May and Uncle Ben but that’s it.”

“That’s ok, now that you’re my sister my uncles and aunt are your uncles and aunt.”

“And here we are,” Mr. Stark interrupts the conversation as he opens a door with flowers on it. “This was just Morgan’s room but we fixed it up so that both princesses can stay in here.”

Teresa squeals and runs in while tugging Morgan after her. Peter enters after Mr. Stark to see what has made his little sister so excited and finds himself in awe of what he finds.

The room is larger than the one Peter shared with the three other foster boys, two of those rooms could easily fit into this one. The walls are white with pictures and decorations on them, some of the pictures Peter recognized. They were pictures of when Teresa and Peter came over for the playdate. Two closet doors almost fill the entire right wall, one with Morgan’s name on it and one with Teresa’s on it, with a door labeled bathroom as the only non-closet space there. The right wall has big mirrors and those fancy desks girls have with smaller mirrors. Vanities according to Mrs. Stark who is walking the girls around the room. One has Morgan’s name and the other has Teresa’s. The far wall has two beds with matching floral bedspreads, one purple and white while the other is pink and white. 

Teresa dives onto the pink bed, snuggling the pillows to her.

“Its my favorite colors and these pillows are so fluffy!”

“Well those are just the basics,” Mr. Stark smiles as he places the duffel bag in front of Teresa’s closet, “we can order you some stuffed animals or decorative pillows for your bed if you want.”

“Really?”

“Really,” the man smiles. 

Mrs. Stark waves a hand at the wall beside the door, “this is your work desk next to Morgan’s. Its for doing homework or reading or simple projects in your room.”

“And we mean simple,” Mr. Stark laughs, “any big building or projects that have lots of glue or wet stuff can be done up in the playroom, there is a whole area made for messy projects there.”

“Wow,” the little girl gasps, “I’ve never heard of something like that.”

“Cuz my mommy and daddy thought of it,” Morgan jumps up beside Teresa, “mommy and daddy are very smart like that.”

“We have some basic clothes in here,” Mrs. Stark opens the closet. This causes Teresa to gasp and disappear into it, “we can put your clothes you brought in the dresser in here.”

“While the girls do that,” Mr. Stark turns to Peter, “how about I show you to your room buddy.”

The man guides Peter out of the room with a hand on the boy’s back.

“Pepper and I are here across from the girls,” the man waves at the door facing them, “and you’re next to us.”

They stop before the indicated door, “if you don’t like being right here next to us then we can move you next the girls and move the guest room right here.”

Peter eyes the man as he shifts and looks a little worried. 

Peter didn’t mind the closeness. His room was always close to his parents, then May and Ben, plus he’s shared his room with Teresa more then be alone, and then he shared his room with his foster brothers. 

So he didn’t mind.

“I don’t mind,” he smiles, “here is fine.”

“Oh good,” the man breaths a sigh of relief, “we just want you kids within ear shot incase any of you need anything at night.”

Mr. Stark opens the door, Peter realizes his name is written in blue on the door as it swings open to reveal his new living location. He didn’t expect much, Teresa’s got the pretty girls room at the foster home and he knows its because she still little, so he is surprised to find the Starks have put as much thought into his room. It’s a little smaller than Teresa and Morgan’s room and has some similarities. The door labeled bathroom is to his right along with a closet door while his bed is straight ahead. Aside from that his room is a bit more different, starting with the fact his room is painted a pale blue instead of white. His bed isn’t a regular bed like Teresa’s, instead his bed is high up like a bunkbed but under the top bunk is a few floor level chairs and a small table facing the headboard area. The room also has a single floor to ceiling window in the far-left corner, where a pile of bean bags and pillows sit with a large bookcase along the left wall waits for someone to relax near. His ‘work desk’ to the left of him looks bigger and the top is a shiny black which was odd since most desks he’s seen are wooden with no shine. 

“Ok kid come check this out,” Mr. Stark waves Peter to the bed area, “so I set this up like a little gaming cubby, there’s a small screen TV right here,” he points out the screen on the shelf, “and some gaming stuff here,” he opens a drawer and cupboard to reveal consoles and games. “Now just because its in here doesn’t mean you can play it all the time, it’s hooked to the household electronics so Pepper and I can turn it off as needed. We just felt that since you’re older that you may want some alone time sometime or if you have friends over you can play here while the girls play in the living room or something.”

The man guides Peter to the beanbag corner, “this is a relaxation spot we made for you, you can just sit and hang out. And this,” he draws Peter to the desk, “is something I made just for you. You can use it like a normal work desk but,” the man presses a silver button in the corner. The desk top lights up with blue lights, images shoot up into the air and Peter felt the duffel bag drop from shock. Slowly walking up to the piece of furniture he stares at a hologram image of a computer screen.

“We ordered you a laptop for school but this is for your hobbies. You can sketch out building ideas, run hypothetical chemistry mixtures and see the results without blowing something up, you can run circuit patterns, and you can even practice coding. All you have to do is adjust the setting with the panel here,” he taps a silver square with buttons on it. Each button is labeled for what it does “And if you change hobbies and want to art or compose music or write or anything, well I can add programs into the table for those too. So kid, what do you think?”

Peter glances around the blue room with its red accessories, at all the fancy things Mr. Stark says are his, at the private bathroom, and finally his gaze rests on the man. This man whose family seemed more interested in Teresa than him has created a room unlike anything Peter’s ever dreamed just for him. 

The boy promptly starts sobbing.

“Th-this,” he gasps, “f-for me?” sobs, “you—for me?” hiccup. 

“Awe kiddo,” the man bends down, “of course it’s for you, you and Teresa are part of the family now.”

“C-can I hug you sir?”

“Sure can kiddo.”

With that the boy launches into the man’s body, silently crying some more as the warm arms hold him securely, a hand gently running through Peter’s wavy brown hair.

Oh how Peter liked that.

Its been so long since someone has played with his hair.

“Did he like his room?” someone speaks softly nearby.

“Sure did,” Mr. Stark responds, his voice vibrating Peter’s cheek on his chest, “he sure did.”


	7. School plans and names

Its been a week.

A week since Ms. Dillon left Peter and Teresa at the Stark home on top of the mighty Stark Industry tower. 

A week since Peter was shocked to find himself in some kind of bedroom heaven thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Stark. 

A week since Mr. and Mrs. Stark sat Teresa and Peter down to order more personal items like toys and decorations as well as a few more clothing items. 

Peter felt he had enough clothes from what he brought and what was in the closet when he arrived but according to the couple he needs more.

Peter clicked another gray lego into place, the sound of Teresa and Morgan trying to put a large princess puzzle together fills the living room but it doesn’t bother him any. Morgan is finishing up her last few days of school before winter break so the pair get a little loud when Morgan does get home. Also after spending time in the foster home, Peter can focus through a lot of things. 

He continues to focus on his Star Wars lego ship, sitting by the wall of windows on a beanbag he brought from his bedroom. At first Peter thought seeing the city so far below him would make him sick but it doesn’t, rather it’s like looking down at a model city that’s moving on its own. Now he likes to sit in the living room by the window or the window in his room.

“Hey Peter, Teresa can you come here,” Mr. Stark enters the living room and gestures for the kids to sit on the sofa. 

Both Mr. Stark and Mrs. Stark were working from home this week, they told the kids this is to help with the adjustment. 

Mrs. Stark comes into the room and sits in the side chair while Mr. Stark sits on the coffee table before the two Parker kids. 

“So we need to talk about a few things,” Mr. Stark begins. 

Peter feels his heart speed up. Did he do something wrong? Did Teresa do something wrong? Were the Starks giving them back?

“We need to talk about school,” Mr. Stark continues, not noticing Peter’s panic, “after winter break,” he looks at Teresa, “Teresa you’re going to go to school with Morgan. I just finished a meeting there and I’ve been guaranteed that you’ll be in Morgan’s class for the rest of the school year.”

Teresa squeals and tackles Morgan, “we’re going to be classroom buddies!”

“Now Peter,” the man looks at Peter, “we have a few options we want to run by you.”

“Why?”

“Well,” the man clears his throat, “Pepper and I want your opinion on your education since you’re old enough to have opinions. So first we can send you to the same school as Morgan and Teresa but I want to point out that the school they’re going to is a basic private school, it doesn’t have a lot of advanced classes at this level since that usually happens in high school. Ms. Dillon made us aware and what we’ve seen from you is that you’ve got a pretty special brain that might get board in regular sixth grade.”

Peter glances down at his feet, Mr. Stark is right. When he and Teresa were moved to the foster home he was placed in an ok public school but there were no extra classes and no clubs and no advanced work which meant he was very bored there. So. Very. Bored. 

“Yeah I didn’t think that would be a good idea,” Mr. Stark chuckles. “Our second option is that we can have you tested and based on the tests you can be placed in the private seven through twelfth grade school that’s next to Morgan and Teresa’s school. They said they’ll adapt a schedule for you and place you in classes that are at your level. If there is a class you need but they don’t teach, then they’ll give you a tutor for that subject.”

Peter shifts side to side.

He isn’t sure about that. 

It sounds nice but…..

It’s the middle of the school year. His seen what happens to kids who start in the middle of the school year: they either have it easy or they have it hard. He’s only seen the hard version. 

Mr. Stark is wrong. He isn’t ready to have an opinion. The couple should just stick him somewhere and tell him to suck it up and go like his foster family did.

“Or,” Mrs. Stark leans forward and touches Peter gently, “the third choice is you get homeschooled for the rest of the school year. Then during the summer we can decide if you want to try the private seventh through twelfth grade or see if you test into any special STEM schools. How’s this option sound.”

“I-I could do that?” he glances between the pair, “you’d pay to homeschool me? You’d let me try to go to a STEM school?”

“Is that like Midtown school you wanted to go to Petey?” Teresa asks from the puzzle she has continued to work on with Morgan.

“You’re interested in Midtown buddy?” Mr. Stark smiles brightly.

Peter only blushes and glances downward again.

“Yes Peter, we’d pay for tutors so you can be homeschooled if you’d like,” Mrs. Stark smiles warmly.

“Why?” 

“As Tony said sweetie, you’re a part of this family now and we want you to be happy and where you learn best.”

“You’ve got a lot of potential kiddo, just like me when I was a kid,” the man adds, “we just want you to be somewhere you like that also helps stimulate that little brain of yours.”

“My brain isn’t that little,” the boy mumbles. 

“So what option interests you,” Mrs. Stark prompts him.

“Well,” he glances between the pair, “I mean homeschooling takes a lot of money if you hire tutors—”

“Stop right there kiddo,” Mr. Stark cuts in, “I don’t want to sound like a rich jerk but well, kid if you couldn’t tell Pepper and I have lots of money so if you want to have a tutor come here to work with you then that’s what you’ll have.”

The boy nods, “if you’re sure,” he murmurs.

“Ok,” Mrs. Stark smiles, “I’ll start looking into tutors as soon as the holiday is over.”

“Bruce could maybe teach a few subjects,” Mr. Stark adds and his wife nods in agreement. “Now Teresa can you come sit by your brother, we have a second thing to talk about ok?”

The little girl listens to the man and plops herself beside her brother again.

“Now,” Mrs. Stark begins, “we understand you two had a mom and dad once, you also had an aunt and uncle. We aren’t trying to replace them, we just hope that maybe you could find room for us in your hearts too—”

“That’s easy,” Teresa cuts in, “I already love you Mrs. Stark.” 

The woman nods, “that’s good because we already love you too sweetie. But here’s the thing, Tony and I would like it if you and Peter could maybe try calling us, well, Tony and Pepper.”

“What if I want to call you mom and dad like Morgan?” Teresa asks.

Peter tries not to wince. 

Teresa was little when their parents died while uncle Ben and aunt May kept reminding them they were uncle and aunt, so Teresa doesn’t remember using the term mom and dad much.

But Peter remembers.

Sure his memories of his parents are hazy but they’re still there.

“Well if that’s what you want Teresa,” Mr. Stark smiles.

“Yay!” the little girl launches off the sofa and hugs the man then hugs his wife, “thank you mommy and daddy.”

Peter glances at the adults feeling guilt gnaw at his stomach. 

He isn’t sure he can call the mom or dad, will they give him back if he can’t do that like Teresa?

“No pressure kiddo,” Mr. Stark rubs Peter’s knee, “just try Tony and Pepper for us ok?”

“Yah, ok, T-Tony,” the boy replies meekly.

Peter didn’t feel bad for saying Tony and the man seemed pleased, maybe this is enough.

“Now our last thing is for all you kids,” Mrs—Pepper speaks over Morgan’s voice, “in four days it will be Christmas Eve. There will be a small private party for our friends and their families that night.”

“I can watch Teresa and Morgan,” Peter jumps in, “I always watched Teresa when our parents went to parties but aunt May was busy.”

The woman frowns a little and Peter wonders what he did that was wrong.

M—Tony clears his throat, “actually kiddo you three will be coming too. It’s a family event so there will be other kids there. Also we want you to meet our friends.”

“Morgan’s uncles and aunt?” Teresa asks.

“Yep,” Tony nods.

“And we need party outfits so the whole family is going to go shopping today for Christmas outfits,” Pepper smiles.

“Oh!” Morgan bounces on her toes, “Peter and Teresa, you’ll finally get to meet Uncle Happy!”

The pair had yet to leave the home all week so all they knew about ‘Uncle Happy’ is he helps protect and drives the Stark family around, they had yet to meet the mystery man. They’d heard his voice but never seen him. 

“So that means everyone needs to use the bathroom one last time, put on their coats and shoes to wait by the elevator,” Pepper stands up with a smile.

“And if things go alright while shopping then we might try eating out,” Tony adds while standing, “if not we can always eat in.”

Peter stands too but wonders as he walks to his room: what did Tony mean about ‘things going alright’. Did the man expect the kids to be trouble? Did he expect picture taking people being mean? He’s seen picture taking people be mean to Mr. Stark on TV before. 

Trying not to look to worried or nervous, Peter goes to the elevator to wait, going though the motions to get ready to leave but his head running every possibility of what could be the opposite of ‘things going alright’ in his little mind. 

“Everyone ready?” Pepper asks as she tucks Morgan’s hair into her hat.

“Our troop looks good,” Mr. Stark eyes Teresa and Peter with a smile.

“Lets be off than,” Pepper takes Morgan’s hand.

Tony takes Teresa’s hand, Peter follows grimly behind them. His head was starting to hurt because he was thinking of the ‘what-ifs’ and now he realizes he’s going shopping which he most definitely doesn’t find fun which adds to his pains.

_I just need to be good. Listen, stay close, and hopefully ‘things will go alright’…..hopefully_


	8. Stores and hot dogs

Uncle Happy…..in Peter’s opinion the man is only happy under certain circumstances. He smiles when he greets Tony, Pepper, Morgan, Teresa, and Peter even answering Morgan’s questions and speaking nicely to Teresa and Peter.

But as soon as he drove the SUV out of the garage, he became less happy. Within a few minutes the man is frowning and complaining about traffic. Pepper finally presses and button and a black window pops up between the family and Happy.

“Sorry about that kids,” Tony chuckles, “Happy lost a bet the other day and has been grumpy ever since.”

“What kind of bet To-daddy?!” Teresa asks

The man lights up at that.

Peter winces.

The man launches into the story while Peter just focuses on staring out the tinted window beside him. He isn’t paying much attention to the view, just staring.

Until the car stops.

Happy opens the door allowing the family to get out before a stone and glass building stretching high into the sky with windows filled with displays of what is inside. 

Peter’s parents were good at their jobs, secure financially from Peter’s memories, but they usually bought clothes for the kids from some chain store in a mall. May and Ben weren’t well off but they usually bought nice clothes from Target or one of the mall chain stores.

But the Starks…

Peter knows they have money.

Anyone and everyone knows that. 

And Peter didn’t need to be a genius that this building is for those with money.

“Tony, I’ll take the girls to get dresses while you go and get Peter measured for a suit,” Pepper pauses, “Oh and try to stick to picking the colors we discussed when ordering it,” Pepper commands while taking a hand of each girl in hers as she goes into the store like she’s about to go to battle.

“I’m glad I’m not with them,” Happy mutters as he returns to the SUV, “call when you’re ready boss.”

“Alright Peter,” Tony draws the attention of the boy, “lets get you a suit.”

With that Peter is guided into the store by Tony, only to come to move closer to the man as he eyes wander around his surroundings. 

The boy never liked shopping in the mall with his parents or aunt and uncle, to many people. He half expected this place to be less busy since its seems to be for people with more money, but its just as busy as any regular mall. Maybe more so with the holiday being so close. 

Tony leads Peter to the escalator to go up and into the building, a normal escalator ride like any other escalator he’s been on. That is until a group of teens walk up the escalator quickly, one of them pressing against Peter’s side as they pass. Peter takes this opportunity to push even closer into Tony, the boy winces from the stranger’s touch. 

Peter can see the crowds of people below him, the sounds of their voices echoing through the open air loudly. 

He doesn’t like it.

He hates shopping. 

He’ll never change his opinion of this.

Peter’s heart aches in his chest. He misses his aunt and uncle. Ben and May would always put Peter between them, gently touching his shoulders to reassure him he’s safe in the mall. No one, including Peter, knows why he’s like this in crowded places. He’s never been harmed or bothered in public but he still seeks the security of his family.

But Ben and May are gone.

Tony can only block one side of him from strangers brushing past.

Peter really doesn’t like shopping.

“Hey Pete,” Tony catches the boy’s attention, “can I hold your hand? I don’t want to lose you in the crowd.”

Peter nods and tries hard to not look desperate to hold the man’s hand. Tony squeezes Peter’s hand gently in response. 

The man leads Peter past many stores, each one an array of colors while some have clothes and others have shoes and some have other products. As the pair pass a make-up store a large group of girls come out of it, one in a large fluffy white coat bumps into Peter sending the boy into Tony’s side. 

“Woah kid,” Tony wraps an arm around Peter.

Peter can’t stop his hands. He lets go of Tony’s hand, tugging Tony’s open winter jacket and sliding inside of it to hold the man’s waist.

He tries to breathe. 

He can smell Tony’s scent of sandalwood, coffee, and motor oil. He’s never told Tony but ever since that first hug weeks ago he’s loved that scent. 

But right now even that smell doesn’t stop his little arms from trembling. 

“Ok Pete, its ok,” the man murmurs and rubs Peter’s back through the coat. 

Slowly Peter steps with Tony, staying hidden.

He probably looks like a stupid baby.

But he can’t stop.

He wants the people and noise go away. It’s too much.

He’s supposed to be a good boy, not be a problem, but he can’t get himself to let go of the man. 

It’s just a store.

It’s just people.

Why can’t those people just shut up?! Peter doesn’t like it, they’re too loud.

He can hear Tony murmuring, but Peter can’t make out the words over his loud breathing.

“Peter, Peter buddy I need you to listen, there’s a chair I’m going to set you on. I’m going to lift you up and put you in the chair ok? I’m not going anywhere, we’re just going to take a quick break,” Tony’s voice is gentle and close to Peter’s ears from the man bending downward. 

Peter feels Tony’s hands slip under his arms, gently tugging to see if Peter will come free. Peter slowly releases his hold on Tony. He feels himself being maneuvered and lifted but the boy’s eyes remain tightly shut as it happens. He feels himself sit onto a seat, stiff but comfortable. It’s not a bench, its got arm rests and…Peter swings his legs some and bumps something, maybe a foot rest. 

Tony’s hands place Peter’s on the arm rests, not moving them other then rubbing his thumbs against the boy’s coat covered arm. 

Peter takes a deep breath as he realizes the loud voices and echoing sounds have decreased quite a bit.

“Ready to open those eyes Underoos?” Tony gently prompts.

Slowly Peter opens one eye, then the other. Tony leans forward filling Peter’s vision in front of him. Glancing around Peter finds himself in a gently lit room of wood panels, mirrors, and smells he often attributes to men he encounters.

He’d say he’s sitting in a woman’s hair salon from the chair he is in but he can guess this isn’t for lady hair.

“W-where are we?” he squeaks out.

“This is a shaving salon for men. It’s a place where men can get a shave and buy shaving products. Its also the least busy store right now,” Tony murmurs. 

“I’m sorry,” Peter quickly apologizes as he realizes Tony went out of his way to find Peter a quiet space, no doubt making the shopping plans derail. “I’m sorry sir, I’m sorry—"

“Hey now, none of that,” Tony draw’s Peter’s gaze to himself, “you have nothing to apologize for.”

“Bu-but I acted like a baby,” Peter protests, “I got all weird just because of all the people and the loudness. I’ve ruined everything—”

“Stop right there,” the man cuts in again, “you’re not a baby or acting weird. Yes you reacted unexpectedly but you didn’t ruin a thing.”

“Y-yes I did,” Peter sniffs, “this is a family outing,” sniffs again, “I ruined it.”

“Peter, listen to me,” Tony touches the boy’s chin to lift it up, “you didn’t ruin a thing. I’m not mad, Pepper’s not mad, the girls aren’t mad. We just thought that maybe you kids wanted to get out of the house. Pepper and I often order our clothes or have tailors come to the penthouse, its easier with our schedule and safer with the paparazzi. If we do go out, its to get something for Morgan and those are quick trips. We would have just sent you and the girls’ sizing info to the stores but we thought you kids could use a day out of the house.”

“S-so you’re say-saying that—”

“That I can have JARVIS scan you and we can pick colors online then send in the order all from a safe, quiet spot.”

“But the girls—”

“Will be taking a while if I know Pepper,” Tony laughs, “how about we go back outside and have Happy come around and pick us up. There’s a nice little diner nearby that I like, we can hit that up and order your suit over some burgers and fries.”

“R-really?” 

“Yep,” the man pops the ‘p’. “Besides I really don’t like shopping much and I’m rather hungry. Knowing Pepper, she’s going to pick some healthy place for us to eat later.”

Peter’s shoulders relax and he feels the tug of the corners of his mouth moving upward, “You’ll get in trouble for eating a burger.”

“Ok, ok kid how about this, there was a hot dog stand down on the street corner when we came in. We grab one dog each and a drink, then we order. It’s a win-win, I get my junk food but still have room for Pepper’s healthy food. Think you can keep that secret?”

The boy smirks and nods, he does have a soft spot for NYC hot dogs. 

“Now here’s the thing kiddo, we need to go back through the crowds to get to the front door. Can you tell me what set you off so I can make sure we avoid it this time?”

Taking a deep breath, Peter shifts in the seat nervously.

Will Tony send him back over this?

Will the Starks give up on adopting him if they find out he struggles being out in crowded places?

Will they yell at him because he still misses his aunt and uncle?

“Slow down buddy, I can see that little brain is thinking to fast,” Tony cuts in, “I have no other reason to ask you other then wanting to help you, ok?”

It takes a moment but Peter finally nods.

He speaks quietly to the man, “I don’t like crowds. Busy places bother me. I don’t like it when strangers bump into me, they’re strangers. May and Ben, my aunt and uncle, would walk with me between them so I’d feel safe in big stores like malls. Its also really loud here, everything echoes. Aunt May said that because I have bad eyesight and it took so many years for people to notice, that my hearing is stronger now. I’m not sure if that can be accurate, but—” the boy shrugs and doesn’t say anything else. 

“Say no more kid,” Tony speaks up, “I have an idea. After all I’m a genius.”

Peter can see the man is trying to make the moment lighter, he wants to offer more then his little smile. But Peter’s stomach twists uneasily still. 

Tony pulls out his trademark sunglasses he had worn earlier and taken off once entering the building. Sliding them onto Peter’s face, the man lifts the boy from the chair, wrapping his arm tightly around Peter’s shoulder and holding him close.

“Alright buddy, lets blow this joint and get some hot dogs.”

With Peter tucked close to the man’s side, Tony swiftly leads Peter through the building and back to the sidewalk, managing to arrive without any strangers bumping into the boy. 

Even as Tony buys them loaded hot dogs from the stand, Peter feels bad.

Even as the pair sit in the SUV that Happy brought around, eating their hot dogs, Peter feels bad. 

Even as Tony orders a gray and red suit for Peter to wear to the Christmas Eve party, Peter feels bad.

He tries not to look sad or upset, but Peter feels the knot in his stomach twisting painfully over the fact he couldn’t complete a simple task.

That knot twists more when Tony whispers to a surprised Pepper why the pair are in the car instead of meeting her and the girls in the building.

Peter tries to blink away the burning feeling in his eyes as the car moves into traffic, his sister and Morgan chatting loudly about how much fun they had looking at clothes and trying them on. When they ask Peter about his shopping experience, he can only hunch his shoulders as Tony changes the topic.

He’s supposed to be a good boy.

He’s supposed to make the Starks want to keep him.

He failed at this today.

Tony offers the boy a smile and hugs him close.

But Peter only focuses on how he messed up.


	9. Momma Pepper

Peter steps back to view his bookshelf turn bookshelf and display shelf with pride.

After yesterday’s fiasco out shopping the Stark family plus Parkers returned home where Peter decided to sit in his room finishing a lego model after listening to Teresa and Morgan moan about not going out to eat for dinner. 

He felt bad. 

He still feels bad. 

Pepper said they would go out as a family to dinner tonight instead, once Tony finishes some work. That made the girls happy.

But he still feels bad.

No one has blamed him, no one has really said anything, but he knows they’re probably thinking it. 

That’s because unlike what some of the trashy TV and papers say, the Starks are really nice people.

“Wow Peter you finished those fast!” 

Morgan had snuck into Peter’s room, well not really snuck since he left his door open, and now stares in awe at his lego tie fighter and lego x-wing. 

“Yeah they weren’t to hard,” he answers.

“But they were hundreds of pieces!” she gasps, “I saw the box! Mommy said you’d take long time to finish them but Daddy said you would finish them quick. Are you smart like Daddy?”

Peter shrugs, “I don’t know. I was tested a long time ago before I started kindergarten.”

The little girl nods, “and you probably know more now than before.”

“Pepper and Tony will give me a test after the holidays so we’ll know then what my brain can do,” he replies simply. 

“Can I touch one?”

Peter’s smile freezes at the girls request.

“T-touch what Morgan?”

“The big one,” she points to the x-wing, “can I touch that one.”

Peter shifts his feet. 

He wants to say no.

Every time he let Teresa hold his models she dropped them.

Every single one. 

“I don’t know Morgan. It’s kinda big and heavy, it won’t be good if you drop it,” Peter shifts nervously. But then he gets an idea, “hey how about I make you a special ship from my box of loose pieces?”

The little girl shakes her head, “no I want to hold one of those ones. I promise to hold tight and not drop them. I’m strong Peter!”

Peter shifts his feet again, “I don’t know Morgan. Are you sure I can’t make you something your size?”

“Peter,” she whines, “you’re my brother and brothers are supposed to share, that’s what mommy said.” 

Peter felt his heart faulter and breath hitch.

Morgan is a Stark.

She is the blood daughter. 

Would she go tattle on him for not sharing with her?

Will he get in trouble?

Will he get sent away?

Glancing back at the models he swallows his worries.

He’ll just have to restart if she drops one.

He might not like restarting, but its better than being sent away for not sharing.

“Ok I’ll share, you can tell Pepper I’m a good brother and share,” he reaches up for the tie fighter, “lets start with the smaller one first.”

Slowly he lowers it towards Morgan’s outstretched hands.

“Ok, hold tight cuz I’m going to let go,” he slowly removes his fingers.

And just as he predicted, Morgan drops the model straight on the floor once he lets go.

Morgan wasn’t ready for the weight.

Peter had added some lego light pieces and battery pack to make the tie fighter light up causing it to weigh more than a normal model.

And now it sits in four big pieces and several small pieces, the little lights dangling by their wires and the battery pack now detached. 

“Peter I’m sorry!” Morgan gasps, he can see tears welling up in her eyes.

“It’s my fault,” he sighs sadly, “I should’ve had us sit down.”

“I’m sorry,” Morgan now lets tears fall down, “I’m so sorry Peter, you were right cuz I shouldn’t have asked to hold them. I broke your toy daddy and mommy got you.”

Peter kneels and begins gathering the pieces, “I can put it back together again.”

“Are you mad at me Petey?” Morgan hiccups between tears.

Peter pauses and reaches up to brush away the tears on her face, “I’m not mad at you Morgan. It was an oops moment. Why don’t you go play with Teresa, she’ll make you feel better.”

The little girl nods, “ok Peter. I’m really, really sorry.”

“I know,” he tries offering her a smile but knows it looks forced and pained. 

The little girl slips out of the bedroom leaving Peter with the wreckage.

Peter blinks back the tears now threatening his eyes.

He knew this would happen.

But it still hurts.

He sniffs as he picks up the tiny pieces that broke free.

“Master Peter, I detect you’re distressed. Would you like me to notify Boss Lady?”

Peter sniffs in and tries to blink away the tears, “N-no Jarvis. I knew this would happen, it’s my fault for not having her sit down to hold it.”

“You gave her the model even though you knew she’d mostly drop it? You could have told Little Miss no to prevent both of you from being in distress.”

“No I couldn’t Jarvis,” Peter sighs and dumps the pieces onto his work desk. “Morgan would have gotten mad and would have told Pepper I wouldn’t share.”

“So? I fail to see the problem. Often Boss and Boss Lady tell Morgan no and she becomes upset, but given time and explanations she will ‘get over it’ as Boss says.”

“But she’s Pepper’s and Tony’s daughter.”

“And you are their son.”

“No I’m not Jarvis. They’re my legal guardians, they can still get rid of me if I’m not good. I have to be good to Morgan because she’s their kid by blood and she isn’t going anywhere, if she doesn’t like me then Pepper and Tony won’t like me.”

Jarvis didn’t respond right away, Peter assumes the AI is processing the information.

“I see what you are saying Master Peter, although my data doesn’t seem to support such a conclusion.”

Peter shrugs, staring at the pieces, “It’s ok Jarvis. It’s nice that you tried to understand.”

Peter didn’t feel like trying to fix the tie fighter. Instead the boy went and sat on his beanbag by the window, staring out into the view of the city below.

He isn’t alone for long, a soft knock draws his attention to the open door. Pepper walks in slowly, her eyes flitting from the damaged model on work desk to Peter and back again. 

“I’m sorry I made Morgan cry,” Peter quickly speaks up, “I told her I can fix it.”

“Oh Peter,” the woman comes and sits on the other beanbag beside the boy, “you didn’t make Morgan cry.”

Peter doesn’t respond, rather he looks at his finger while playing with them. 

“Morgan shouldn’t have asked to touch your models and she should have accepted your response instead of pester you,” the woman adds.

Peter shakes his head, “I didn’t tell her no.”

“But you were hesitant and you did offer her options,” Pepper quickly adds.

Peter frowns, “how did you know?”

“Well Morgan came out saying she was a mean sister and broke your things—”

“She’s not mean,” Peter cuts her off quickly, “she’s just a little kid.”

“Yes and that’s why I looked at Jarvis’ video of the moment. I don’t like to pry but when it comes to you kids I just want to make sure everyone is alright.” The woman adjusts herself, tugging Peter’s beanbag in front of hers, “Peter you can tell Morgan no and you’re allowed to not share with her. You know that right?”  
Peter shifts again and looks away but doesn’t respond.

“Why didn’t you tell Morgan no Peter?”

“B-because she’s Morgan,” he whispers, “I didn’t want her to be mad and I didn’t want to get in trouble.”

“Oh Peter, come here baby,” Pepper opens her arms and Peter tentatively leans off his beanbag and into her arms.

Pepper rocks him in her arms, each passing second the boy melts into her arms, realizing slowly how much he’s missed his aunt doing this with him and how Pepper feels just as good. Slowly he raises his arms and puts them around Pepper, holding onto her. She responds to that by rubbing his back.

“I’m scared Pepper,” Peter whispers, “I don’t want to get in trouble.”

The woman hushes him and rocks him more, “don’t worry Peter. When the day comes that you get in trouble I promise Tony and I will be fair with you. We won’t hit you, we won’t hurt you, we won’t use bad words to you. You may get mad at us and we might get mad with you but that’s ok because that happens with families, what’s important is that once we all calm down is that we forgive each other and keep loving each other. I promise, Tony and I will always forgive you no matter what.”  
Peter feels his eyes burn again and he just holds onto Pepper so she won’t see his tears trying to escape. 

“Tony will be home soon, why don’t you just rest in here and I’ll keep the girls out of here until then. Do you still want to do dinner?”

Peter leans back and wipes his eyes, “we should still go.”

“But do you want to go?”

“Morgan and Teresa would be sad if we don’t go,” he responds.

“But do you want to go?”

“I ruined it yesterday,” Peter responds, “so we should go.”

“Alright,” Pepper finally gives in, “just take a little break and when Tony gets here I’ll let you know to get ready, ok?”

Peter nods and Pepper gives him one more solid hug before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

Peter pushes his beanbag back, resting his head against the corner where the wall meets window. 

He feels better.

But he still feels scared.

He isn’t sure how long he sits staring out the window but suddenly he hears voices through the wall he leans against. He’s heard Tony and Pepper talking before from other parts of the room, but usually the words are to muffled.

But now as he presses against the wall and window, the words filter in more annunciated, his particularly sensitive ears picking up a conversation between the adults.

_“….Morgan bullied him Tony. In the video she repeated what I said about sharing when she and Teresa were fighting over the dolls, except she changed the words to aim them at Peter.”_

_“What did he do?”_

_“He gave in, let her have her way and the result was exactly what was expected: she dropped his 400 plus piece model on the floor causing it to break into pieces.”_

_“Oh gosh, was he mad? Did he yell?”_

_“No, he told her it was ok and didn’t do anything until after she left, that’s when he cried. Tony I think he’s afraid to deny Morgan. After the incident I had Jarvis look through footage, Tony since he got here he’s given into Morgan and Teresa every time, especially Morgan. He said he was afraid of getting in trouble, Tony I think he’s afraid he’ll be punished if he doesn’t do what Morgan asks. When I asked him if he still wants to go to dinner tonight he just kept saying Morgan and Teresa would be sad if we didn’t go. He refused to say if he wanted to go or not.”_

_“So the same as the store incident?”_

_There is a sigh and creaking, but neither spoke for a moment._

_“The people in the classes said this might happen,” Pepper adds, “its just so sad seeing it happen.”_

_“Should I talk to him?”_

_“I talked to him already. Maybe tomorrow when you’re home Happy can watch the girls and you can do something just for you and Peter. Like maybe go to the lab or check out the R &D floor. See if you can’t bond more and get him to open up more.”_

_“Good idea, I’ve been wanting to take him down there.”_

_“I’ll check with Happy tonight about the plan then.”_

Their conversation ends and he hears them moving about in the room.

But Peter’s mind was on the words ‘lab’ and ‘R&D’. He wondered what those places are like, they sound interesting. 

He just needs to get through dinner and he’ll get his reward tomorrow of going to one of those places.

He likes that idea. 

A knock draws his attention, turning its Pepper opening the door.

“Hey sweetie, Tony’s here so we’re getting ready to go out.”

“Do I need to change my clothes?”

Pepper goes to his closet and comes out with a pair of jeans and nice polo, “you can just put these on. Its not a super fancy place, so need to dress up. Unlike the pictures on the internet, Tony and I don’t go out to fancy places every night.”

With Pepper’s smile, Peter felt himself also smiling. 

It does seem like that when the couple is searched up on the internet. 

He stands and goes to collect the clothes, Pepper ruffles his hair and places a kiss on his head, “I’ll see you in a minute baby.”

“I’m not a baby,” he mumbles while blushing.

“You and the girls will always be my babies even when you all become adults,” she responds with a smile to leave him to change.

Peter smiles softly. 

May used to say the same thing.

May used to kiss his head.

He should feel like he’s dishonoring May’s memories, but he feels warm and happy instead.

Maybe this is all ok.

Maybe.


	10. labs, robots, and steps towards family

Peter swings his feet excitedly as he sits at the kitchen table.

He’s currently trying to fix his tie fighter model, but his brain is struggling to focus. Pepper left to do some work downstairs at her office. Teresa and Morgan went to the ice-skating rink with Happy and the mysterious aunt Natasha to meet them there. 

And Peter.

He’s waiting for Tony to finish his phone call and then the man is taking Peter downstairs. 

The dinner went well last night. The restaurant was pretty empty and the family had a special booth just for themselves. Pepper was right, the place wasn’t super fancy because it had foods that Peter ate on it, fancy places don’t usually have regular burgers or grilled cheese on their menus in his opinion. 

It took a little bit, but by time the main dishes arrived Peter had relaxed enough to tell Pepper and Tony about his plans to someday make his own model kit to sell someday. Morgan was quiet but after a bit she began talking to Peter again and even tried to give him part of her pudding dessert which he tried to deny. 

Overall it went well for the family’s first big meal out.

Family?

Peter pauses his movements.

He just considered them all family in his mind.

But they aren’t. Right?

They’re still just his legal guardians.

What if—What if—

“Hey Underoos, you ready because I am,” Tony interrupts Peter’s thought with a big smile. 

“Yes I’m ready Tony,” Peter hopes down and quickly moves to the man.

“Ok lets get your shoes on and get this party started.”

The pair shoe up and stand in the elevator, Jarvis bringing the pair down several levels of the tower.

“First stop is Stark Industries R&D department. Actually, that department takes up three floor but I’m going to take you to the best floor because I want to make sure you see the good stuff. Gotta make sure you don’t go and grow up to work for a competitor,” he winks at Peter who just giggles. 

When Jarvis announced the arrival of the elevator to the destination, Peter’s hand instinctively reached out, the boy barely stopping it before it grabs Tony’s. 

Tony noticed.

The man holds out his hand, “grab a hand kid, gotta practice workroom safety.”

The boy nods and latches on quickly to the larger hand. 

The pair enter a large white room filled with artificial lights and natural light from the huge windows on the walls. People bustle around in lab coats, taking notes, building at tables, running theories on computers, and at the far end of the room the walls are boxed in with a large testing room. 

Peter didn’t know where he wants to go first, he wants to see everything. 

Tony clears his throat loudly, “listen up everyone! I’ve brought a special guest today, but if I see photos of him and myself leave this room from one of you, kiss your jobs goodbye. Clear?”

“Crystal sir,” several voices answer back. 

“Pepper has a plan already in place for when we tell the press about you and Teresa, and I don’t want to be responsible for that plan failing if it does,” Tony whispers to Peter as he guides the boy forward to the group of workers surrounding a large table filled with floating hologram images. 

The adults eye Peter curiously but don’t say a word, some choosing to smile at the boy.

“Ok minions, tell me where we’re at,” Tony prompts and the group quickly launches into a description of their work. 

Peter listens closely as the staff describe the current progress on their modified solar energy panels for use in third world countries. They’re trying to make them durable, compact, and travel ready for some of the rural countries were people move about more in a nomadic like pattern. 

The next group were running theories on a new nerve connection idea for attaching SI prosthetics to appendages without reopening old wounds to much. 

But Peter found himself moving close and staring non-stop at the one table where a group worked on DNA strands, their project working with gene therapy ideas for resetting body cells to aid in cancer recovery. Peter let go of Tony to get close up to the images and actually asking the workers questions about their theories. 

Tony nearly had to drag Peter to the trial room where he spoke to the workers through the speakers about their current tests on the metal from a country called Wakanda. 

It is then that Peter’s eyes catch something else. Three workers stand over a small table with what looks like an R2-D2 droid but half the size and with no legs. Moving away from Tony quietly, the boy stand by the table watching the three adults poke at lines of code floating above it.

“Is that a droid?” 

The trio turn to the boy in surprise. One man recovers quickly, “it’s a robot. Mr. Stark created some robots with simple AI coding and we’re working on doing something similar.”

“Our project,” the dark-haired lady speaks up, “is to create small robots that can be introduced to households to do basic things to help the owners.”

“Like more advanced Alexa, Siri, or whatnot?” Peter asks.

“Yep,” the second man nods, “make it mobile too.

“So if a Roomba had a baby with Alexa and Jarvis was it’s tutor?”

A laugh from behind Peter causes the boy to turn, Tony rubs Peter’s hair affectionately, “that’s one way of summarizing it kid. You interested in making something like this?”

Peter nods, “I always liked the droids in Star Wars, it would be neat to have my own little robot to help me out or keep me company.” Peter suddenly realizes what he says, “I-I mean I love Morgan and Teresa, I’m not lonely. It’s just, what I meant was, but….I love the girls,” he finishes in a panic. 

“Oh Peter,” Tony pulls the boy from the table a few steps, “there is nothing wrong about what you said. Sometimes its fun to play with the girls but I’m sure there are times where the girls aren’t the greatest playmates. Besides I’ve spent more time with robots then with real people in my life so I have no reason to judge you. The only time I’d say something is if you give up on people in general and lock yourself in a lab for years, then I might say something.”

“Cuz you did that,” Peter grins mischievously.

“Huh so you do listen to Pepper when she rants. Well that’s better then me, good job kid.”

Peter grins widely, “well kids are supposed to learn from their parent’s mistakes.”

There is a silent pause as Peter realizes what he said, his smile shrinks a little as he waits for Tony’s response.

But Tony only grins bigger and pats Peter’s shoulder warmly, “that’s right buddy, that’s right.” 

Tony and Peter return to the robot table, the group asking Tony’s opinions on aspects.

Tony responds but keeps his arm around Peter’s shoulders, occasionally rubbing his thumb on his joint.

“Ok kid, ready to see my private lab?”

Peter nearly bounces on his toes, “yes I am.”

The pair go to the elevator, Jarvis bringing them to Tony’s private lab floor. The doors open to room surrounded with glass walls facing toward the elevator and cement walls facing what would be the outside of the building. But it’s the contents that excite Peter. There are tables full of tools, holograms floating in the air, blueprints and drawings suck to walls, and what looks like a claw on wheels hoovers by the door along with a robot that looks like a camera on wheels and finally one that looks to be a cross between the two. 

Tony just chuckles as he opens the door after punching in his code, the claw on wheels swarming the man.

“This is DUM-E, U, and Butterfingers” Tony nudges Peter toward the robots, “they aren’t to good at much but I guess I like having them around.”

The bots makes some trilling beeps, rolling closer to Peter. Their appendages move up and down, touching Peter’s head and shoulder and finally his stomach. 

Tony moves around the bots, “Ok you kids, stop harassing your little brother. Let me finish the tour before you bombard him.”

The three bots roll back just a hair, the pair squeeze past, and the bots following like puppies as Tony shows Peter the worktables. 

Peter’s attention wanders from the holograms to a shorter table hiding behind one of Tony’s big ones. It’s empty and oddly tidy. 

“What’s this table for?” the boy inquires.

“Well,” Tony clears his throat, “its for you. I had it installed thinking maybe someday you’d be interested in working down here on projects with me.”

“Really?” 

“Really, really,” the man smiles and draws the boy closer to the table, “I got an adjustable one for you because you’re a growing boy,” he presses the side of the table, the furniture piece rising up and lowering on command.

“Do you want to look around more Peter? Or maybe work on something? You seemed interested in that bot earlier.”

Peter grins widely, “can we Tony?!”

The man echoes the smile, “absolutely kiddo. Pepper doesn’t need for several hours so lets get to work.”

The man rolls a stool around his table to sit beside Peter, the boy taking his spot at his new table. Tony taps the button on the table and the hologram jumps to life with an empty screen waiting for Peter to doodle on. 

The boy picks up his pen and glances at the man, “where should I start?”

“Well lets start with talking about what you want this bot to do. Let’s start by making a list of all the things you wish to make a bot for, from there we’ll pick from that list our final choices. Just let your brain and creativity flow kid.” 

The pair begin talking, Peter writing a list consisting of simple things like fold socks all the way up to complicated tasks of checking sugar and oxygen levels for people with diabetes and asthma. 

“I didn’t read anything in your file from Ms. Dillon about diabetes or asthma,” Tony murmurs.

“Oh I don’t have diabetes but I do have asthma,” Peter is also surprised, he knows it should be in the file since his last case manager and his foster family knew about it. 

“How bad is your asthma?”

“Well normally its ok. Things like athletics or allergies or weather changes or sometimes when I get really upset or I get a cold it acts up. I think when I get a cold is when it’s the hardest to deal with.”

Peter glances up at Tony, shifting a little as Tony appears to be thinking for a moment.

“Do you have an inhaler?”

“Yeah I have one left. I used to take a medicine everyday for it, something about maintenance, but my foster mom didn’t renew that prescription. She said I should be ok without it.”

“Ok,” Tony nods, “ok ah Jarvis can you make a note for Pepper and me to get Peter to the doctor after the holiday. I want to have his asthma checked and have the right medicine for him here at the penthouse.”

“Done sir, I’ll attach a list of allergists and pulmonologists as well.”

“Thanks J.”

“are you mad?” Peter asks softly.

“Why would I be mad kid?” Tony glances in shock at the boy.

“Because you didn’t know I’m sickly,” he replies just as safety. 

“Hey,” Tony turns the boy’s stool so it rolls directly in front of him, “I have a bad heart, caffeine addiction, and a bunch of other issues, does that mean you want to trade me for a different parent?”

“No!” Peter cries out, “no cuz you’re the best. I’d never trade you.”

“Thanks kid,” he smiles warmly, “so just because you might need some medicine like me doesn’t mean I care about you any less, ok?”

The boy nods.

“Until we get to the doctor though, I need you to tell me or Pepper if you’re having trouble with your breathing or allergies ok? I trust you to be a big boy and be responsible to let us know, can you handle that?”

Peter nods rapidly.

He’s done that so far in his life, it’s an easy request. 

“Anything else you’d like to add to the list?”

Peter gnaws on his bottom lip.

There is something he wants to add.

Something he thinks he should write.

But he isn’t sure how to say it, to explain his reason without causing trouble.

He glances up and Tony reaches out to rub Peter’s shoulder, “put whatever you want kid. This is a safe space and I won’t judge you, ok?”

Peter nods.

He takes a breath.

He writes.

**record/download footage and/or audio of loved ones to playback as holograms anywhere**

There is a bit of silence as Peter puts his pen down.

“Oh kid, I know the feeling,” Tony wraps an arm around Peter, “I’ve got people who passed to soon too. I would’ve loved to record them, to have that bit of memory still around.”

“You don’t think it’s…well…weird?”

“Why would you think that?”

Peter shrugs, “well I’m supposed to be moving on, aren’t I? wouldn’t this make moving on harder?”

“I’m not a therapist,” Tony sighs, “but in my opinion I think it would be helpful.”

“Sometimes,” Peter replies, “I wish I could just press play and see them again.”

“That would be nice.”

“Do you think that they would be mad that I want a new family? That I’m replacing them?”

“You know, I loved my mom,” Tony starts, “she tried her best despite my father not being too good at the whole marriage and family thing. In fact I’d say Jarvis, the original Jarvis, was more my father then my blood father was. As I got older my mom got busier with her charities and public appearances for SI, so I started spending a lot more time with Ana, Jarvis’ wife, when I was home from school. Was I replacing my mom with Ana?”

Peter frowns for a moment, “no I don’t think so.”

“Then why do you think you’re replacing your family with this one? If I’m not replacing my mom with Ana or my dad with Jarvis, then you’re not replacing your family with this one. You’re just—just making more space in your heart for more people. Does that make sense Peter?”

Peter shifts a little.

He’ll always love his parents.

He’ll always love his aunt and uncle.

He already likes Tony, Pepper, and Morgan. 

Will that turn into love?

If he loves them, will they love him?

There are many thoughts in the boy’s mind, thoughts that Peter struggles to work with. 

Peter isn’t sure if Tony sees him struggling with his thoughts or if the man has just gotten bored, but he sighs and points at the image before the pair.

“Now lets narrow down this list and think about the size and shape of this robot we want to make. Pepper will be home soon so we have time to run a few more ideas.”

Peter is grateful for the redirection, focusing his thoughts onto the screen.

By time Pepper asked Jarvis to call the two up from the lab, Tony and Peter had come up with the top five skills they want the robot to do and three different appearance concepts. These results they shared with the Pepper, the girls, and Happy all of whom didn’t seem surprised at how far the two geniuses got with the planning. The group started making guesses as to when the robot would be finished, a batch of cookies on the line for the winner.

By time bedtime rolled around many hours later, Peter decided to do something special for the first time.

Morgan always got a story and tucked in by her parents, Teresa getting the same treatment since the first night the Parkers arrived.

They offered Peter some options too.

He chose to just to say goodnight and put himself to bed. 

Tonight though, he was feeling good and he wanted to try something different.

Not a big something.

A little something.

So when Pepper and Tony exited the girls room from putting the pair to bed, both adults were a little surprised to see Peter standing there waiting. 

“Are you ok Peter, do you need something sweetie?” Pepper asks gently.

“I, well, I was wondering, no, I mean,” the boy shifts his feet while playing with his fingers, “can-can I have a hug goodnight please?”

Both adults instantly surge forward, Pepper wrapping her arms around the boy first. With a tight embrace and a kiss on the cheek she murmurs goodnight into his ear. Tony quickly pulls Peter into a strong hug, rubbing Peter’s back gently, pulling away to say goodnight and place a kiss in Peter’s brown curls. 

When the boy climbs up into his bed, he smiles at his star pattern ceiling. 

It had been a really good day.


	11. Christmas Eve Party and Emotional Explosions

This was bad.

This was very bad.

Any minute now Pepper and Tony would walk into the living room and see this. 

He needed to do something fast.

They are mere moments away from leaving to go to the Christmas Eve party and now this is happening.

“Teresa! Give it to me!” Morgan demands as she stomps around the sofa.

Teresa dodges by running around the back of the furniture, diving behind the side chair.

Teresa holds a green hair bow in her hand, Morgan waving a red one at the other little girl.

“Teresa, I’m supposed to wear the green bow.”

“No Morgan mommy said I’m wearing the green bow!” 

Peter can tell Morgan is on the verge of tears and Teresa is on the verge of an ‘I’m mad’ meltdown.

He needs to figure this out fast before Tony and Pepper see them fighting. 

“Girls!” he tries to get their attention.

Neither stop, their voices growing in volume.

“Girls!” he tries again and fails.

“TERESA E PARKER! MORGAN H STARK! LISTEN TO ME!” 

Peter rarely yells, Teresa hasn’t heard it often and Morgan’s never heard it. Both girls stop moving and arguing, staring at the boy in shock.

“Listen,” he begins calmly, “we need to behave, we’re going to be leaving soon and this arguing isn’t helping. Now Morgan, what color is your necklace and bracelet Pepper got you?”

“I have a red necklace and bracelet,” Morgan glances at the items on her body.

“Then you get the red bow, Pepper said the bows match the jewelry,” Peter concludes. “Now you both come over here so I can put the bows back in before we get in trouble.”

Both girls walk over with frowns of defeat. Peter places the bow clips back into each girl’s hair, turning the pair to face each other.

“Now, you both need to say sorry.”

“But—” Morgan gasps

“She—” Teresa tries to argue

“No,” Peter holds up his hands, “you both were wrong, so you both need to apologize. This fighting needs to end, if we fight in public it will be trouble for Tony and Pepper. Plus the party won’t be fun if you both are mad the whole time. Now apologize.”

The pair are reluctant but finally give in. Still frowning the pair apologize.

And Peter doesn’t stop there.

He pushes the two girls together until they’re smushed together and starting to whine.

“Now kiss and makeup,” he commands with a grin.

“Ew Peter,” Teresa frowns.

“You’re silly,” Morgan’s frown is the first to start breaking into a possible smile.

“Then hug,” he shrugs, “you’ve got to the count of three and if you don’t hug by then, well, I’m going to have to tickle the mean bugs out of you two.”

The pair look at him in confusion, trying to decide if he is serious.

“1”

“2”

The girls latch onto each other with grins, “we’re friends again!” Morgan shouts

“Well,” Peter pretends to think, “just to make sure.”

He dives at them quickly and pokes at each girl’s ticklish spot.

The pair run off with squeals and laughter.

“Well I guess those mean bugs are definitely gone,” Peter smiles smugly.

“And what is going on in here? Sounds like we’re missing something fun,” Tony calls out as he enters the room in a nice black suit.

Pepper comes up behind him in gold cocktail dress, the same shade of gold as Tony’s accessories. 

The pair definitely look like what Peter’s seen in the photos on the internet, rich and pretty.

“Wow,” Teresa runs over, “you two look like a king and queen. So pretty.”

“Well you and Morgan definitely look like pretty little princesses with your sparkly dresses,” Tony replies as he eyes both girls.

“And that makes Peter our knight in armor since he’s wearing gray,” Morgan adds with a smile.

Peter tires not to wince.

True he is wearing a gray suit with red accessories; gray is a color knights are often drawn wearing in Morgan’s picture books. But part of him, a little piece deep inside, wanted to be called a prince. To be considered by Morgan as part of the royal family in her and Teresa’s minds.

But Peter doesn’t say anything.

The topic has moved on as Pepper and Tony pose the girls in front of the Christmas tree in the living room.

That had been another source of struggles for the girls earlier. 

Happy and some workers brought up a rather large tree, bigger than any Peter’s had indoors, plus it’s real. At first it had been fun to decorate the tree like a family, but halfway in both girls started arguing over who hung what where. It got so bad that the adults dragged both girls off to take a nap and hope they would wake up less grumpy. 

It worked.

They woke up and finished the tree, a brilliant festive Christmas monstrosity filling every kid’s dream, and didn’t argue any more.

Until the hair bows. 

But just like the nap, Peter’s little talk seemed to reset the pair as they pose like best buddies in front of the tree. 

“Come on Peter, you need to get in here too sweetie,” Pepper beckons him.

Peter joins the girls, standing and smiling between them as both Pepper and Tony snap photos with their phones.

“Sir, Mr. Hogan is down waiting for everyone. He says hurry up or you’ll all have to drive yourselves,” Jarvis spoke up.

“Ok minions, coats and shoes,” Tony claps his hands, “lets get to the party.”

Pepper and Tony herded them to the entry way then down to the SUV waiting for them. Happy is dressed rather nicely as well and declares no kids should touch his outfit until after the party and if any of the ‘minions’ get sick from too much Christmas food he isn’t cleaning it. 

Everyone just laughs at that.

Peter makes a note to be careful and avoid peppermint flavored snacks since he usually gets sick from peppermint. 

Unlike most normal humans who enjoy the flavor and use it to calm their stomachs, Peter has an opposite reaction.

Very opposite.

The SUV drives through the city, Christmas lights on full blast and a gentle snow trying to fall from the sky. Of course it turns into slush as soon as it hits the ground, but looking into the sky was pretty in Peter’s opinion.

The SUV comes to a stop before a fancy hotel, a valet taking the keys from Happy while the adults herd the kids up the steps and inside the warm building.

Their coats are taken by another worker, while a third leads them to a pair of large double doors. 

The woman opens it and the sounds of ‘rockin around the Christmas tree’ fill the air along with voices talking and laughing. 

Peter would compare the room to the one Belle and Beast danced inside during the famous ‘tale as old as time’ scene. Except there is a Christmas tree so big in the middle of the room that Peter couldn’t quite see if it was a star or angel on the top of it. There are tables of food and chairs to sit on laid through out the room while in the far corner is a large carpet area where kids played with toys and each other. 

And the people.

They’re all dressed nice, as expected for a holiday party.

But everyone seemed to lowering their voices, eyes shifting to stare at the new comers.

Nope.

Not ‘seem’.

Peter is sure everyone is starting to stare.

Even the older kids are stopping what they’re doing to glance over. 

“Daddy,” Teresa whispers between Peter and Tony, “why is everyone staring at us?”

“Because sweetie,” Tony smiles and bends toward the girl, “everyone in this room has been waiting to meet you and Peter for awhile now.”

“Really?” she gasps.

“Really,” Tony squeezes Teresa’s hand and begins to lead the group to the first gather of adults to their right. 

A dark-skinned man with leg braces over his dress pants moves forward from the group to embrace both Tony and Pepper, Morgan hugging the man’s legs gently with a reminder from her father. 

“Peter, Teresa this is James Rhodes, my brother in all but blood,” Tony introduces the man.

“Is he Morgan’s Uncle Rhodey?” Teresa asks.

“Yep,” the man smiles, “and now I’m you and Peter’s uncle Rhodey too.”

“Uncle Rhodey tells the best funny stories about daddy,” Morgan informs the two kids with a mischievous smirk.

“Absolutely,” Rhodey smiles as Tony groans. 

“Where’s my little spy in training?” A voice cuts in.

A woman with hair redder then Peppers steps around Rhodey and sweeps Morgan off her feet despite the woman wearing a short silver dress.

“Aunt Nat,” Morgan giggles as she is set down on the floor again.

“Peter, Teresa this is Natasha Romanoff—”

“My aunt Nat,” Morgan cuts her father off. 

“Its nice to finally meet you Teresa and Peter,” the woman leans forward and shakes the pair’s hands.

“Nice to meet you too,” Peter decides to speak up.

“Bruce!” Tony calls out.

A brunette man weaves around Natasha and Rhodey, timidly standing between them.

Peter’s mouth drops to the floor.

“Peter, Teresa this is—”

“Oh my gosh!” Peter gasps and launches forward with his hand extended, “you’re Dr. Bruce Banner! I’ve read all your papers,” he shakes the man’s hand strongly, “you latest theory on modifying gamma radiation for more precise medical equipment was really interesting.”

The man adjusts his glasses and smiles at Peter, “well its an honor to meet you Peter. I’ve never met anyone so young to have read my works, you must be pretty smart.”

“I’m sure he’ll give me a run for my money as he gets older,” Tony grins and squeezes Peter’s shoulder. 

“Well I’d be honored to share ideas with you too Peter,” Dr. Banner states.

Peter can only gasp like a fish out of water, glancing between the adults.

“I think you broke him Bruce,” Rhodey laughs. 

“Ok lets meet a few more people before we hit the food table,” Pepper leads the family to the next group of adults.

The big blonde smiles and waves toward Teresa while the brunette next to him just watches quietly.

“Blondie here is Steve Rogers and his partner here is Bucky Barnes,” Tony points them out, “this guy here is Sam Wilson,” Tony indicates to the third member of the group.

The kids each greet politely but Peter just stands aside and watches as Teresa interacts with the men. Peter doesn’t mind them but the Bucky guy was oddly silent.

And he keeps glancing at Peter. 

“Stark, let me see you’re new namesakes,” a loud voice echoes and a large blonde man leans onto Mr. Wilson.

“Kids this is Thor Odinson who obviously has probably hit the eggnog a little fast,” Tony sighs.

“Nonsense Stark, I’m just enjoying the festivities,” the man laughs cheerfully.

Tony tugs Peter and Teresa off to another group as the man Thor starts telling some kind of battle story that Pepper deems ‘not kid safe’. 

The third group Tony tried to pass by without stopping but a dark man with an eye patch stops them, introducing himself as Nick Fury and his companions as Maria Hill and Phil Coulson. Peter tried not to lean into Tony but he did, the Fury guy seemed ok but Peter didn’t like that he couldn’t tell what the man was thinking when he spoke.

The next group had Peter excited again.

Hank Pym, his wife, his daughter, and his daughter’s….boyfriend?....Peter isn’t to sure on that were more then happy to put up with Peter’s excited rambling about Dr. Pym’s research.

But he did get really excited too when Mr. Scott Lang did a magic trick with cards and promised to do more in a little bit for all the kids. The man introduces his daughter Cassie Lang who is the same age as Teresa and Morgan, both girls very interested in running of to play with this new friend. Pepper stops them though, one last stop she says. 

The final group Tony drew them to is a man named Clint Barton and his wife Laura. Mr. and Mrs. Barton being last made sense to Peter when the kids came rushing over. Peter is introduced to their daughter Lila, sons Cooper, toddler Nathaniel, and the two only teenagers in the room. Twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff are exchange students from Europe the Barton’s are housing. Neither seems to interested in Peter or Teresa, choosing to go wander off for more food.   
There are lots more people but it is here that Pepper and Tony encourage the kids to go play together or come get food with them. 

It seems Teresa hit the jackpot for friends though since most of the kids seem to be her age. Cooper seems to be the only one near Peter’s age, so once the adults wander off and the kids dash back to the play area, Peter decides to approach the other boy.

“Hi,” Peter says and struggles to find something else to say.

“Hey,” the other brunette responds while messing with some magna tiles.

Peter shifts his feet waiting for the boy to say more.

He doesn’t. 

“So, ah, do you want some help?” Peter asks cautiously.

“Nah, but there’s some other building kits in that cubby,” he points to the blue bin in a storage cubby. 

Peter sorts through the bin and finds a simple lego kit, something familiar to do.

He spills the pieces onto the carpet near Cooper, starting at making the vehicle on the box.

“So,” Cooper speaks up, “you’re one of the bought kids.”

Peter glances up at the boy, “huh? Bought kids?”

“Yeah, the Starks bought you,” the boy says with a neutral face.

Peter frowns, “they didn’t buy us. They’re adopting us.”

“Doesn’t that cost money?” Cooper asks. 

“I-uh-I don’t know. Maybe?”

Cooper nods, “I see. My mom and dad want to adopt Pietro and Wanda but they need to get money to do that.”

Peter had thought Cooper either had bad topic choices or had something mean to say, but both things are wrong. He’s curious but doesn’t know how to ask questions. Peter’s seen this happen before at other adoption events he’s attended, biological kids with questions but asking them in a funny way that make their words misunderstood.

“You could ask Tony and Pepper or maybe look on the internet,” Peter offers.

The boy shrugs, “I know. Just though I’d ask.

They build in silence for a little bit but then Cooper speaks up again, “did Tony and Pepper get a deal?”

“Ah what?”

“A deal. Like if they adopt your sister they get you for free? Maybe the people can do that for Wanda and Pietro.”

Peter shifts uneasily.

Buy one get one?

IS that something that could happen?

“I don’t know Cooper,” Peter replies softly. 

“I really like Wanda and Pietro,” Cooper continues, “I want them to stay but I’m afraid my parents won’t get the money in time.” 

Peter’s thoughts start flitting to darker spots in his mind, he tries to push them away by focusing on the legos. 

“Hey Peter,” Cassie and Lila flop down beside the boys with Teresa and Morgan behind them.

“Yeah?”

“Are you enjoying living with Mr. and Mrs. Stark?” Cassie asks.

“Yeah, I mean, its going good,” Peter responds.

“Just good?” Lila giggles, “Teresa makes it sound like it’s perfect.”

“Because it is,” Teresa stresses, “we have a mommy, a daddy, a sister, we have our own bedrooms, we have school after break, we have lots of great things. Life is Perfect!”

Peter’s breath stutters in his chest.

Those words! He’s heard them before!

Oh gawd.

His mom said that same phrase and a day later his parents died.

Ben said that May on the couch the night before he died.

May said that when she kissed Teresa and Peter goodbye the day she died.

Life can’t be perfect! If life is perfect then something bad will happen!

Peter stands to his feet, he hears someone saying his name but his eyes skitter around the room, head lost in thoughts.

What if they get into a car accident on the way home? What if saying those words causes Pepper to eat something with strawberries and die? What if the Christmas tree tips over and crushes the kids in the play area?!

Peter can’t focus.

He can’t breathe.

He needs to go outside. The cold air always helps.

Peter glances around and notices one of the large glass door open a little to circulate the air of the room. 

Peter dashes over and slips out the door and onto the balcony. 

His breath becomes little clouds as he hugs his arms close and glances around the area. The balcony has a light dusting of snow but he sees a little stone bench that’s still clean off to the side.

He moves over and sits. 

“Life can’t be perfect,” Peter whispers to himself as he shivers. 

His mind drifts off to the thoughts of Tony falling down the stairs at home. Teresa tripping on something and getting hurt on the coffee table at home. His mind starts bringing up the statistics he read about holiday injuries. 

His breath continues to come short.

He rocks his shivering body.

A little moan escapes his lips. 

“Life can’t be Perfect,” he whines. 

“Peter!?”

Tony’s voice fills the air but the boy continues to rock his body and ignore him.

“Hey Pete,” Tony sits beside him, the boy feels the body heat and his trembling comes faster. “How about we go inside?”

Peter shakes his head.

He can feel wetness on his face.

He’s crying.

Again. 

“Come on bud, I need you to calm down a little ok? I can’t help you till you calm down some,” the man tries.

Peter moans and sobs openly.

He can’t calm down.

He likes Tony. 

Peter doesn’t want Tony to get hurt or die.

Life can’t be perfect.

“Talk to me Underoos, can you give me a hint how to help?” the man tries again.

“Life can’t-can’t b-be perfect,” Peter hiccups and coughs.

“Come on kid, take a breath,” Tony inhales loudly, “come on.”

Peter tries but falls into a fit of coughs.

“Life can’t b-be perfect,” Peter sobs and grab’s Tony’s arm, finally looking up at the man. 

“Why kid?” 

“Cuz-cuz e-every time s-someone says that so-someone dies,” he bursts into tears. “Teresa said it, now-now someone will die. I l-like you T-tony! I-I like Pepper! I-I l-like Morgan!”

Tony pulls off his suit jacket and places it around Peter, “hey, hey kid those are just words. No one is going anywhere, everyone is fine and will be fine. We all like you too kiddo. Besides life isn’t perfect, not by a long shot.”

Peter coughs and wails, “Is it because of me? Am I why life isn’t perfect? Cooper asked if you picked Teresa and I’m the free one. Tha-that its buy one get one! What if you don’t want the free one?”

Tony sighs and wraps his arms around Peter, “listen kid. I’m going to take you inside. It’s to cold out here and it sounds like you’ve worked yourself up into a state. Once we go inside I’m going to have a very important thing to say to you.”

The man doesn’t wait for Peter to respond.

He lifts the boy up into his arms, carrying Peter back inside and past everyone, stopping to plop Peter in an empty hallway between two doors for the bathrooms.

Peter is still crying, but Tony just kneels before the boy. With a tap on Peter’s chin the boy looks into the man’s eyes.

“Now first kiddo, life isn’t perfect. Whoever says that is wrong. Life is never perfect because perfection isn’t something that exists. There will always be flaws especially with humans. Life can be good, life can be great, but life can never be perfect. Understand?”

Peter nods slowly, coughing again.

“Now second thing. Saying life is perfect isn’t like some kind of spell that makes people die around you. Yes you’ve unfortunately experienced things no kid your age should have, but those things happened at random, you weren’t targeted by some magical force. Understand?”

Peter nods again, coughing more as he tries to inhale.

“Third: Peter you are not a buy one get one with Teresa. When we saw Teresa we really liked her, but when we met you Peter, well we liked you two. When you both came over to play, Pepper and I knew you two were who we wanted. We love you both equally. We love you and Teresa the same amount of love as we have for Morgan. All three of you are our babies no matter where you began life. Pepper and I will never give you back. You can cause trouble, you can cry and scream at night, you can do all sorts of things but Pepper and I will never give you back and will always love you. You three kids are our life, we love you each the same and will raise you all equally the best we can. Understand kiddo?”

With another set of coughs Peter nods quickly. 

“Good now can I have a hug buddy?”

Peter dives into the man’s arms without a second thought, holding close to the warm body. 

They stay that way until Peter’s coughing starts coming faster.

“T-tony,” Peter pulls back, “T-t-daddy I-I can’t,” Peter gasps and cough, “I-I, dad-daddy.”

“Oh shit,” Tony grabs Peter and holds his phone out towards the boy. “Jarvis, what’s happening?!”

“It appears Master Peter is having an asthma attack sir,” Jarvis’ voice echoes from the phone.

“Where’s your inhaler kid?” 

Peter coughs, “h-home.”

“Da-ang it,” Tony hisses.

“Tony? Peter?” 

Pepper enters the hallway frowning, “is everything ok?”

“Peter’s having an asthma attack! Pep we need to get him some help.”

The woman quickly dashes out the door, Peter can hear her yelling if someone has an inhaler. 

“Come here kiddo,” Tony scoops up Peter and they move quickly.

“I-I’m sorry,” Cough, “I’m ru-ruining Christmas.”

Tony shakes his head, “no kiddo, you’re not. I’ve ruined Christmas so I know what that looks like. This doesn’t look like the year I ruined Christmas.”

“Tony!”

The man stops as many adults crowd the group. Pepper moves closer with an inhaler in her hand.

“Laura has one for Nathaniel,” the woman gasps.

“Take two puffs Peter,” Dr. Banner commands the boy.

Peter takes the inhaler with shaky hands, using the item expertly.

He can taste the medicine on his tongue. 

He feels it fill his lungs.

He has a few more smothered coughs.

But as he exhales and draws a breath, he feel better.

He hands the inhaler back to Pepper who passes it to Laura.

“Ok everyone, run along now,” Tony prompts.

Everyone disperses except for Dr. Banner, Rhodey, Natasha, Laura, and Pepper. Tony sits Peter in a chair beside a table of cookies. 

“Starting to feel better sweetie,” Pepper asks softly as she strokes Peter’s hair. 

The boy nods, “I’m-m sorry—”

The woman hushes him, “there’s nothing to be sorry for baby. This happens and that’s ok. Do you want to go home?”

“I don’t want to ruin it for the girls,” the boy moans.

“Well how about this kiddo,” Tony smiles, “how about you sit here and we’ll bring you food. You just relax for a little bit and in an hour or so we’ll head out. That will give the girls time to watch and magic show and eat, that should be enough for them.”

“Plus we still have to be able to wake up for Christmas breakfast and presents tomorrow,” Pepper smiles. 

Peter nods in agreement with the pair.

As the two adults go off to find food, Peter calls out ‘no peppermint please’ to them. 

Rhodey and Dr. Banner both hoover until Peter’s guardians return with their prizes.

From there Tony or Pepper remain by Peter, occasionally touching his hair or shoulders. 

After eating Peter feels the exhaustion seep into his body. As adults talk around him, he finds himself slowly leaning towards the side. 

The last thing he remembers is leaning against Tony’s waist for a moment, just to rest his eyes.

But he doesn’t open them again.

He doesn’t open them when Tony picks him up and carries him on his hip like a kid half his size. He doesn’t wake up as Happy drives the family home, the girls singing carols all the way. He doesn’t wake up when Pepper and Tony disrobe him and wrap him up in blankets on the beanbags under his loft bed. Both adults complained loudly about not thinking the loft bed through very well, but he didn’t wake up to that. 

As both adults whisper Merry Christmas and I love yous, Peter sleeps on with a small smile on his lips.


	12. The Stark Family

“Peter….Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater…..wakey, wakey Peter.”

The warm, deep voice echoes through the darkness and Peter slowly drifts toward it. 

“Pe~ter~…come on buddy.”

The boy slowly stretches, rubs his eyes, and opens them to the world.

Peter’s in his room, its dimly lit, and oddly enough he isn’t in bed but laying wrapped up on his beanbags under the bed.

But the oddest thing: he can’t remember how he got to this point. 

“T-Tony?”

The man looms over Peter with a big grin and a Santa hat blinking red lights in the fabric.

“Good morning little man. Guess what?”

“Hmm?”

“Its Christmas morning buddy! Time to get up and see if Santa brought you something.”

“Br’fst?”

“We’ve got donuts to start us with and after presents I’m making pancakes.”

“You c’k?”

Tony eyes the boy with a frown, “of course I can cook.”

Peter responds with his own mischievous but sleepy smile as he lowers the blankets and rolls of the beanbags onto the floor.

“Come on little bug, either crawl or wiggle, you need to get to the livingroom in the next couple minutes or the girls will be coming to get you.”

“Mmm su’pris Teresa ain’t here,” Peter mumbles as he moves into a crawling position.

“Well the girls wanted to raid your room back at 5 am but Pepper and I held them off for the last two hours, so that’s the best you’ll get.”

With a nod, Peter hoists himself to his feet and stumbles after Tony into the hallway.

His eyes are still partially closed but they open wide to the sounds of squeals as Teresa and Morgan dive across the livingroom towards him. Tony dodges as both little girls latch onto Peter’s legs.

“Petey we let you sleep in!” Teresa grinned.

“Yeah, mommy said you had some big feelings last night so we let you sleep,” Morgan adds.

“But now its time for presents! Petey we’ve got lots!” Teresa squeals and runs back to the tree.

And as Peter’s eyes focus he spies a plate of plain glazed donuts on the coffee table with cups of water waiting while under the tree sits a bunch of presents all brightly wrapped.

Even before his parents dying when everyone was around, Peter and Teresa usually got only three presents. That’s just how his family did things. At the foster home the pair only got one present each.

But there are definitely enough presents under the tree to support the theory that Teresa and Peter have more then three or one present each. 

“Come on Peter!” Morgan whines beside the tree.

Peter wanders over, choosing to sit by Pepper’s legs and squishing himself between the couch and the coffee table. Right in front of the donuts.

“Sleep well baby?” Pepper asks as she plays with his hair.

Peter makes a positive sound, leaning against the woman’s leg as he relaxes into her touch. 

“Can I hand ‘em out now?” Morgan asks.

“Sure things sweetie,” Tony smiles and pulls Teresa onto his lap in the side chair he has pulled in front of the TV

Morgan proceeds to pile presents before each person, her pile, Peter’s, and Teresa’s substantially larger than Tony and Pepper’s. 

“Ok now that we all have our piles, we take turns opening our presents,” Morgan informs everyone, “So since I passed out the presents I pick who opens a present first and I pick…” she glances at each person “Peter! You open one first.”

Peter is startled out of his half-asleep state, he half expected Teresa’s name to be called. 

Peter picks a medium sized box, taking off the shiny paper to reveal the inside to be a toolkit box.

An empty toolkit box.

“I think I can guess what might be in these other boxes,” he grins slyly at the adults, “thank you.”

Both adults chuckle and murmur ‘you’re welcome’.

“I pick right? Ok I pick Teresa to go next.”

And with that the circle went onward. By time the sun has rising above the city buildings and the donuts are gone, all the presents have been opened.

Peter ended up with official tools to fill his box, Tony excitedly talking about each thing they will make with the tools. He also got some more clothes, two lego sets, a new watch that Tony made himself. Peter is sure it has a tracker in it aside from telling time and being an emergency button, but he doesn’t argue about it since Morgan and Pepper have had one for years. Must be a Stark thing. After that came a new laptop and cellphone. Pepper had to explain that Peter gets a cellphone because he’s older and will have moments where he’s alone and will need to call for rides or something to the girls. Both were sad they didn’t get phones. He also got two new lego sets that he’s just dying to put together as soon as he can.

Both girls got toys and clothes as well, Morgan getting some games while Teresa getting some movies, both girls getting a couple books each too. 

Both adults ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the presents the got from each other and Morgan. Teresa produces a little pile of papers she was hiding under the couch which she hands out to each person. Each is a little ‘why I love you’ card which has both Tony and Pepper getting teary and Peter smiling warmly at the ‘best big brother’ on his.

“I’ve got something too,” Peter speaks up at the end, “can I go get them?”

“Go ahead kiddo, we aren’t going anywhere,” Tony nods.

Peter runs back to his room, pulling a box from under his work desk and returning to the livingroom.

Peter had started on a project for Teresa before the Starks even came into the picture.

But when the family took the pair in, Peter used all the bits and bobs he’s collected to make things for the people who have taken him in. 

“Teresa and Morgan, these are for you.”

Peter hands the pair hand sized toys in the shape of rabbits made from pastel colored fuzzy socks. He was going to make Teresa something mechanical but he changed his plan when they moved into the Stark’s home. 

“Pepper this is for you,” Peter hands a little box he painted.

As Pepper opens it a soft little tone plays from the box.

“Oh Peter this is sweet, did you make this?” 

He nods and Pepper hugs him close.

This is where the mechanical stuff went, he felt Pepper would appreciate it more than Teresa.

“This is for you Tony,” Peter holds out a rectangle covered with fabric.

Peter had Jarvis help him with this. He knew what he wanted, how to do it, but struggled with the final step of printing.

Tony unwraps the item, the cloth falling away to reveal a decorated frame with gears and wires and little bits with a photo of him playing with Teresa and Morgan in it.

Peter took the picture with the camera he got from his uncle years ago, Jarvis helped with the printing of it.

“Peter,” Pepper whispers as she leans over to see it, “did you take this picture?”

He nods, “I took several, but I liked that one the most because everyone is laughing and smiling in it. Jarvis helped me get it printed but the rest was me.”

“Come here buddy,” Tony opens his arms and absorbs Peter into them once the boy is close enough. “Thank you Peter, these are wonderful presents.”

Peter pulls back and fiddles with his fingers, “well they aren’t as fancy as the stuff you guys bought but Teresa and I wanted to give everyone something too.”

“And we love what you and Teresa made,” Pepper smiles softly, “a present from the heart is the best one of all. Now I want you kids to sit on the couch because Tony and I have one last present for you kids.”

As Pepper walks off to get the last gift, Tony sits each of the kids on the couch, muttering about the sitting order.

“Ok, each of you get a box but no one opens till we say so,” Pepper says as she sets a thin box on each child’s lap.

“Ok so Morgan open yours first,” Tony instructs the girl.

Morgan rips in and pulls out a t-shirt. Opening it, she shows its one of those special-order shirts with what you want to say on them, hers saying **‘Only Child Status: Offline, Youngest Sister Status: Online’** on a computer screen.

Morgan frowned a little while Teresa started asking if Pepper was pregnant.

Pepper denies it, prompting Peter and Teresa to open their boxes.

Peter opens his which is a gray shirt with a ‘hello my name is____’ tag printed on it. 

But what is written in Pepper’s familiar handwriting is ‘Peter Benjamin Parker-Stark’.

Peter glances at Teresa’s shirt to see it’s the same except ‘Teresa Elizabeth Parker-Stark’ on it.

“We have the same name!” Morgan squeals, “I understand my shirt!”

“Does this mean, I mean did you?” Peter fumbles, “Ms. Dillon said it’d take months.”

Both adults laugh.

“Well,” Pepper winks at Peter, “Tony and I have some special friends who owe us some favors so we where able to get our petition looked at rather quickly.”

“So,” Tony smiles, “as of now Teresa and Peter, you two are official Starks and you are our son and daughter as much as Morgan is our daughter. We are a legal and official family.”

“Merry Christmas Peter and Teresa,” Pepper reaches out and hugs the pair, “and officially welcome to the family my babies.” 

“Yay! We’re official brother and sisters!” Morgan screams and runs around the room rapidly, listing all the people she wants to tell about this. 

Teresa jumps off the couch and begins to do a dance with Morgan, the pair deeming it the ‘I got a sister dance.’

While Pepper takes photos, Tony moves to Peter’s side.

“I know this is a lot, but I want you to know that you’re stuck with us for the rest of your life. You will be treated equally with the girls. You’re my son no matter what people say. You don’t have to call me dad if you don’t want to—”

“But,” Peter cuts him off, “I maybe, want to call you dad. I might not always remember to but, if I say it sometimes—” the boy shrugs.

“Then that’s fine,” Tony smiles, “you do what is comfortable for you. But know that Pepper and I are here for you. No matter what. Life will never be perfect, sometimes we’ll be happy together, sometimes you might feel mad at us or even have a sad day where you miss your family. That’s ok. We may seem perfect in the media but that’s all lies, we fight, we cry, we sit in our pajamas till dinner. What matters is that we go through life together, because together makes life good and a good life is better then trying and failing to have a perfect life. I love you son.” 

Tony hugs Peter tightly.

Peter knows he crying, he can feel it. 

But Tony’s crying too.

And Peter can hear Pepper sniffling behind him. 

“Merry Christmas Peter Parker-Stark, my eldest child and only son,” Tony whispers.

“Merry Christmas….Dad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What...what....what?!
> 
> Yes Part 1 is done. Peter and Teresa have official been adopted which was the end goal.
> 
> Not all problems have been addressed and there will be more to come.
> 
> In fact there is a part 2 in the works (a fan has actually already guessed what the topic will be) so keep your eyes peeled for that.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Some Don't Know How to be Saved](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24046465) by [Steve_100Rogers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steve_100Rogers/pseuds/Steve_100Rogers)




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